Bryce Harper homered in a six-run ninth inning as the Philadelphia Phillies rallied to beat the Colorado Rockies 8-4 in Denver on Saturday night.
Harper, who was ejected from Friday night’s game in the first inning, responded Saturday with two hits and four RBIs as Philadelphia avoided losing consecutive games for the third time this season.
The Phillies are 18-4 in May and 30-7 since mid-April.
Kyle Schwarber had three hits, Garrett Stubbs and Alec Bohm had two hits each and Jose Ruiz (1-0) picked up the win in relief for Philadelphia.
Colorado led 3-2 after eight innings but Jalen Beeks walked Brandon Marsh leading off the ninth. Edmundo Sosa greeted reliever Justin Lawrence (1-3) with a triple to right to tie it and Stubbs singled to put Philadelphia ahead.
Lawrence got a double-play ball but Schwarber then singled, Bryson Stott walked and Harper homered to left off John Curtiss to make it 7-3. It was his 13th of the season.
Nick Castellanos added an RBI single but was thrown out trying to stretch it to a double to end the inning.
The rally spoiled a solid outing from Rockies starter Dakota Hudson, who allowed two runs in six innings, and a career night for Brenton Doyle. Doyle had two hits and three stolen bases while Ezequiel Tovar and Jacob Stallings had two hits each.
Charlie Blackmon’s RBI double in the bottom of the ninth gave him 600 extra-base hits in his career, which is second in franchise history to Todd Helton’s 998.
Harper’s RBI single in the first gave the Phillies a 1-0 lead but Brendan Rodgers tied it in the bottom of the inning with a run-scoring single off starter Aaron Nola.
Colorado scored single runs in the second and third to go ahead 3-1 but Philadelphia manufactured a run in the fifth to get within one. Stubbs led off with a single, went to second on a groundout, stole third and scored on Schwarber’s sacrifice fly.
Nola allowed three runs — two earned — on five hits and struck out five in six innings of work.
–Field Level Media