Walker Buehler gave the Phillies<\/a> exactly what they wanted Friday night, notably five solid innings and a fifth day of rest for each of their other starting pitchers.<\/p>\n But Bryce Harper<\/a> supplied more of what they need.<\/p>\n Harper slugged a two-run home run in the third inning to break a tie in an 8-2 thumping of the Royals \u2014 and, oh yeah, continue the Phillies\u2019 perfect week with their fifth consecutive victory, all without injured shortstop Trea Turner<\/a> and third baseman Alec Bohm<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u00bb READ MORE: Weekend baseball reading: Kyle Schwarber\u2019s bet on himself paid off. And how he did it boosts his value \u2014 even as a DH.<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n Let\u2019s pause for some mind-bending math. Five days ago, the Phillies\u2019 magic number to defend the National League East crown was 13. Their latest win, coupled with another Mets loss, chiseled it down to … three<\/i>!<\/p>\n And now, improbably, the Phillies can wrap up the division \u2014 and break out the ski goggles for a sudsy celebration \u2014 as soon as Sunday \u2014 just as the Eagles kick off in Kansas City.<\/p>\n \u201cAny time you\u2019re able to clinch at home, it\u2019s huge,\u201d Harper said. \u201cEspecially in front of our fans. Best fans in baseball, man. They\u2019ve been here all year for us. Obviously we play great at home. It\u2019d be great to go do it here.\u201d<\/p>\n This is what happens when you go on a two-week tear that coincides with a meltdown from your chief rival. Really, though, it goes back further, to the trade deadline. Since Aug. 1, the Phillies are 27-13, the best record in baseball; the Mets are 14-25, the third-worst.<\/p>\n Which leads us back to Harper. Because as much as the Phillies are rolling across these six weeks, the Face of the Franchise has been, well, OK. Entering Friday night, these were Harper\u2019s numbers since Aug. 1:<\/p>\n 10 homers (tied for 17th in baseball)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n 25 RBIs (tied for 25th)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n .503 slugging (tied for 42nd)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n 120 OPS+ (tied for 69th)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n Good, right? But not quite Harper-ish.<\/p>\n So, as Harper unloaded on a sinker from Royals starter Michael Lorenzen and drove it deep the opposite way to left field \u2014 in the same neighborhood of the bleachers where his pennant-clinching homer touched down in 2022 \u2014 it was easy to imagine an October in which \u201cThe Showman\u201d shows up.<\/p>\n \u00bb READ MORE: Jos\u00e9 Alvarado suffers strained forearm, ending his suspension-shortened season sooner than expected<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s kind of his sweet spot,\u201d manager Rob Thomson<\/a> said. \u201cYou know his timing and his swing is in good shape if he\u2019s hitting balls like that to left-center field.\u201d<\/p>\n Harper also worked a walk in the fourth inning and singled in the sixth. But he wasn\u2019t satisfied overall, especially in the eighth inning. He got a juicy first-pitch fastball from Royals reliever Luinder Avila and rolled it over to shortstop, then smashed his helmet at first base.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m really upset about the last at-bat,\u201d Harper said. \u201cCan\u2019t miss pitches over the plate. Just got to keep swinging, keep taking good at-bats, getting the pitches over the plate that I can handle and take the ones that I can\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n There was plenty of run support for Buehler, making his first start since signing a minor league contract<\/a> on Aug. 31. Every Phillies starter had at least one hit save Edmundo Sosa, who left in the seventh inning with right groin tightness.<\/p>\n Sosa is filling in for Turner, who is out with a Grade 1 strain of his right hamstring. Thomson said Sosa\u2019s exit was \u201cprecautionary for now.\u201d If Sosa needs a few days off, second baseman Bryson Stott<\/a>, who homered in the seventh inning, would move to shortstop, with Weston Wilson or Donovan Walton at second base. <\/p>\n Nothing has slowed the Phillies this month.<\/p>\n \u201cGuys have been stepping up, a next-man-up mentality kind of thing,\u201d Harper said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got a lot of guys that have a lot of confidence in their ability. The lower half of our lineup\u2019s been great for us. Our starting pitching has been lights-out. Pitching wins championships, man.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s part of the reason why the Phillies signed Buehler.<\/p>\n \u00bb READ MORE: Kyle Schwarber trained with Ryan Howard for three years. Now, he\u2019s chasing Howard\u2019s Phillies home run record<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n Released by the Red Sox with a 5.45 ERA, Buehler is a low-cost flier to make three starts in a six-man rotation and give Cristopher S\u00e1nchez<\/a>, Ranger Su\u00e1rez<\/a>, and Jes\u00fas Luzardo extra rest \u2014 and the Phillies a chance to keep winning.<\/p>\n So far, so good.<\/p>\n Buehler put a runner on base in every inning other than the third. But he threw strikes, an issue that plagued him in Boston, and gave the offense a chance to build the lead.<\/p>\n \u201cThe delivery is the big thing,\u201d Buehler said. \u201cAll the [pitch] shapes and command comes out of the delivery. And then, just fastball strike percentage was pretty good for me. It\u2019s a lot easier to get swing and miss when you throw stuff off the heater. If I can get my arm to the slot and move the way I want, kind of baseball mumbo-jumbo, the feels of everything comes back and makes sense to my hand and my brain.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a cool thing that a team like this wanted me to be a part of it. Hopefully, I can contribute in some way. I think today was a good first step.\u201d<\/p>\n Buehler would line up to start next Friday night in Arizona and again on Sept. 26 at home against the Twins. Could he work his way into the playoff rotation?<\/p>\n \u201cWell, I mean, we\u2019ve got four guys doing pretty good right now,\u201d Thomson said. \u201cSo, he\u2019s got to dominate, pretty much.\u201d<\/p>\n Buehler made a good, if not dominant, first impression.<\/p>\n Just imagine if Harper keeps looking like himself.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.inquirer.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Walker Buehler gave the Phillies exactly what they wanted Friday night, notably five solid innings and a fifth day of rest for each of their other starting pitchers. But Bryce Harper supplied more of what they need. Harper slugged a two-run home run in the third inning to break a tie in an 8-2 thumping […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[370581],"class_list":["post-2018713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-royalty","tag-bryce-harper-phillies-magic-number-mets"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2018713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2018713"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2018713\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2018713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2018713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2018713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n