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For a moment, all those "What's wrong with Bryce Harper?" the pieces can be arranged.
Harper is not about to come out of his doldrums. He's already out of there.
"It's not an easy task, I think it's there," said manager Gabe Kapler after the Phillies' win over the Rockies in the weekend with a 7-5 win.
Harper had the winning race at home, a 404-foot explosion in the Phillies' field to unravel the match in the sixth inning. (see comments). It was his second consecutive game with a circuit and gave him four hits in his last three games. He increased his slugging percentage by 47 points over this period.
"He may not have two shots and a home run tomorrow, but that does not mean he's not where he needs to be," Kapler said. "I think the home run that he hit in the center of the field (Saturday) was the turning point and the moment he started to feel more like Bryce."
In the sixth inning, the all-important Sunday, J.T. Realmuto tied the game with a right-handed bullpen's home shot and Harper followed three batters later with a decisive run against a southpaw reliever. The round showed how the Phillies' best hitters are able to deal with specialists on both sides.
Realmuto's long ball came against veteran reliever Bryan Shaw, who spent 10 years in headlines because of his ability to retire from the right-handed hitters. On arrival Sunday, the right-handers were 8-to-58 for Shaw, hitting .138.
Realmuto, like Rhys Hoskins, knows a division of the career platoon reversed. Realmuto beat .286 against the right-handed with a .777 OPS compared to .250 against left-handers with a .730 OPS. From 2016 to 18, Jean Segura and Realmuto ranked respectively second and third in the major leagues, beating .292 and .291 against brittle right-handed balls.
Shaw was not a breaking bullet, but a change of course. It was his first career homer a few days after Kapler noticed that Realmuto's power had to be based on the quality of his hard touch.
Harper, meanwhile, took Dunn deeply for the second time in a month. He is currently hitting .304 / .407 / .537 against lefties with six doubles and three homers.
Rare is the left-handed power hitter who does not have a major hole in his momentum against lefties. Harper is this rare southpaw. Last season, he had nine homers, 12 doubles and a .857 OPS against lefties. The pace at which he is this year is even better.
Harper knows he's faced Dunn a ton, but does not pay attention to his career stats against him or against many other pitchers.
"It has always been a tough game for me," said Harper about Dunn. "Since I was younger, in 2012, he faced my rookie year in the East when he was in Miami.Having to face a guy like this, see his trends … l & # Today;
"I'm just going with the feel I'm not really looking at (the match between the batter and the pitcher.) No matter what day, you could go out there and put me out on three throws, it's part of the game. I just have to keep going. Any day could be different. "
In the space of three days, the Phillies removed from their mouth the bad taste of the Brewers series. They followed three consecutive defeats, a high in the season, with three consecutive wins. They will then travel to Chicago to lead the Braves in two and a half games, the Mets in six and a half games and the Nationals in seven and a half games, in anticipation of Sunday night's game result.
In Chicago, the size of the Harper sample of 54 participants versus left-handed will increase. The Phillies will face three consecutive lefties Tuesday to Thursday in Jose Quintana, Cole Hamels and Jon Lester.
The Phillies look no further than the Cubs, who are the most prominent team in baseball. But they certainly circled the next series.
"We are really looking forward to returning to Milwaukee," said Jerad Eickhoff, who started Sunday's game.
"We have not put our best foot forward against them.We'll take care of Chicago first and go to Milwaukee with a chip in the shoulder."
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