The huge road winning streak ends, but Phillies breathe sigh of relief with Harper

The huge road winning streak ends, but Phillies breathe sigh of relief with Harper originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

MIAMI — The second-longest road winning streak in Phillies history came to an end Saturday afternoon in a 5-3 loss to the Marlins, a result that was overshadowed by Bryce Harper's exit.

Harper left the game after being hit by a 90 mph sinker on his surgically repaired right elbow by Marlins starter Braxton Garrett. He tried to walk it off but was in considerable pain. He stayed in to run the bases, was caught stealing third, then did not take his next at-bat in the fifth inning, being lifted for Bryson Stott.

X-rays were negative. Harper and manager Rob Thomson said he's OK, just sore.

"I'm alright. Didn't feel very good at the time. Just pretty sore," Harper said. "I don't like getting hit, I don't think anyone likes getting hit. But I think it could have been worse.

"I felt it, I told them I'd run and see where we're at but that I was probably going to come out of the game. It was precautionary."

Neither Harper nor Thomson was sure if Harper would play Sunday. The All-Star break begins Monday and the Phillies' final game before it is against left-hander Jesus Luzardo, who has held lefties to a .185 batting average. Sitting would make sense.

"We'll see what happens, see how I feel in the morning," said Harper, who missed two months last season after being hit on the thumb by Blake Snell.

Harper had to pass numerous checkpoints in his rehab — modified sliding, real sliding, throwing — but being hit by a pitch on the elbow was not seen as the same sort of injury risk as sliding the wrong way.

"Getting hit on the elbow is always a concern but I don't think that was as big an issue as sliding or throwing," Thomson said.

The Phillies hit Garrett hard early with an average exit velocity of 102 mph on their first five balls in play. By the second inning, Trea Turner had homered, Harper and Cristian Pache doubled, Alec Bohm singled hard up the middle and Kyle Schwarber and Josh Harrison crushed deep lineouts. Pache missed a three-run homer by about three feet of height.

"We really got his pitch count up early, battled and grinded," Thomson said. "It felt like we were going to break out at some point, we just didn't."

It was a 3-3 game after two innings. The Marlins went ahead in the fourth thanks to an error by Ranger Suarez on a play he makes 99 times out of 100. Nine-hole hitter Garrett Hampson popped up a bunt with a man on first, forcing Suarez to leave the mound and run a bit to corral it. It was not a difficult play and he just muffed the catch. Instead of two outs with a man on first, the Marlins had two runners on with one out. A walk loaded the bases and Jorge Soler hit a sacrifice fly.

It was the first fielding error of Suarez' major-league career. His only prior error, in 2021, was of the throwing variety.

"I don't really know what happened on that play, I don't know how to describe it," Suarez said, "but a run came in after that, and if I caught the ball, it would have been different."

Luis Arraez, MLB's leading hitter, added a pinch-hit RBI single off Yunior Marte in the seventh to provide the Marlins with insurance.

Suarez was erratic in his final start before the All-Star break, walking four and throwing just under 60 percent of his pitches for strikes. He had a sterling month of June with a 1.08 ERA in five starts, but these last two have been below his standard. Suarez allowed nine runs (eight earned) to the Nationals and Marlins in 11 innings. He walked seven in those two starts after walking eight batters in all of June.

"First couple of innings, I didn't have control of my sinker," he said. "The curveball was hanging more often than not, and obviously, the walks were a problem for me.

"I'm going to stay positive, keep working hard and stay focused on making the playoffs. That's what we're working for."

The loss means the Phillies won't have a chance to move ahead of the Marlins in the wild-card standings this weekend but they can still win the series Sunday afternoon. Aaron Nola (8-5, 4.30) is on the mound against Luzardo (7-5, 3.32).