Philadelphia Phillies: Top 10 shocking 2020 season stats
By Matt Rappa
8. Bryce Harper Going Yard Twice Not Enough
In each of his first two seasons with the Phillies, outfielder Bryce Harper has slugged two multi-home run games. During the 2019 season, Harper’s games with multiple home runs came less than a week apart in August — a 9-6 win, away against the San Francisco Giants, and an 11-1 win, home against the Chicago Cubs.
One of Harper’s games with multiple home runs this past season was a convincing, 12-3 road victory on September 23 against the defending World Series champion Washington Nationals — his former team.
Six days prior, however, Harper’s two solo blasts at home against the New York Mets were not enough, as the Phillies fell 10-6; the team’s historically bad pitching staff allowing their division rival to score three runs in the sixth and four in the ninth to come away with the win.
According to Ryan Spaeder, this loss was Harper’s first in which he slugged multiple home runs in a game since September 9, 2015. The outfielder had won each of his previous 10 such contests, and 17 of 20 overall in his career.
7. Rhys Hoskins Grounds Into a Double Play Three Times in Same Game
The seventh-most surprising Phillies statistic from the 2020 season goes to the other end of the spectrum — from Harper’s multiple home run games (one that ended in a loss), to a game in which first baseman Rhys Hoskins grounded into a double play not once or twice, but three times.
According to The Athletic’s Matt Gelb, Hoskins became the first Phillie hitter to do so since Placido Polanco a decade prior.
Hoskins’ 2020 season ended early, due to injury, with him slashing .245/.384/.503. His batting average dipped as low as .111 following the first game of an August 9th doubleheader opposite the Atlanta Braves. Three days later, home against the Baltimore Orioles, was the infamous game in which he grounded into three double plays. The Phillies ultimately lost the game to the American League East team by one run, 5-4.
Had just one of those double plays turned into an RBI, that could have made all the difference for the Phillies team which finished one game shy of its first postseason berth since 2011.