Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber injured late in Phillies’ loss

PHILADELPHIA – The ninth inning was painful for the Philadelphia Phillies.

Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber were both injured late Thursday night in a 7-4 loss to the Miami Marlins, leaving their availability in question for the team with the best record in the majors.

Elected to his eighth All-Star Game hours earlier, Harper felt his left hamstring tighten as he ran to first base on the final play of the game.

The slugger grabbed the back of his leg and briefly fell to the ground after crossing the ball. Although the Phillies challenged the grounder call, Harper didn’t wait for the outcome of the review and immediately limped down the tunnel.

“It hurts,” he said afterward. “We’re going to do some imaging tomorrow just to see what it looks like and see how I feel and go from there.”

Harper, who was named National League Player of the Month in May and is up for the same award in June, extended his hitting streak to 12 games with an RBI double in the first. He is batting .303 with 20 homers and 58 RBIs.

Harper said he’s never had a soft tissue injury like this before, so he doesn’t know how worried he should be.

“If I had anything to come back to, I would let you know,” he said. “But I’ve never felt anything like this before.”

Schwarber felt a groin strain while making an awkward throw from the outfield in the top of the ninth inning. Normally the Phillies’ designated hitter, Schwarber was playing in the field for just the third time this season.

“I reached down to grab the ball with my bare hands and I kind of planted it to throw it and I felt it grab,” Schwarber said. “At first I thought it was just a cramp and I finished the inning. But, as I was running (between innings), I could still feel it, so I talked to the trainer and he didn’t like where the spot was … so he wanted to get me out of there.

Like Harper, Schwarber had a great June and has been the Phillies’ pacesetter all season.

He also expects to have imaging tests Friday before a decision is made on his status, but he seemed more optimistic than Harper when he spoke about it after the game.

“Personally, I don’t think it will be very serious,” Schwarber said. “But we’ll see what happens.”

The Phillies have already played without shortstop Trea Turner for six weeks this season, and catcher JT Realmuto is currently on the injured list after undergoing surgery to repair a torn meniscus. Additionally, the team placed starting pitchers Taijuan Walker (right index finger inflammation) and Spencer Turnbull (right side sprain) on the 15-day injured list in recent days, so the injuries are piling up. for Philadelphia.

“I feel like this team has had to go through a lot over the last couple of years where players have had to step up and fill gaps and have done a great job,” Schwarber said. “If that’s the case here, that’s why we have this depth in Triple-A and why we have a very good bench here. So if there’s time to spare, I have all the confidence in the world that these guys will continue to do their job. »