Bryce Harper does ‘soccer slide’ as Phillies batter Mets on London debut
Bryce Harper celebrated with a football slide after his game-tying home run, Ranger Suárez became the first 10-game winner of the season and the Philadelphia Phillies defeated the New York Mets 7-2 on Saturday in the opener of the third Major League London Series Baseball.
After Harper led off the sixth run, Whit Merrifield hit a three-run homer for the Major League-best Phillies (45-19), who won four in a row and seven of eight. Harper was three times shy of the cycle.
Nick Castellanos added an eighth-inning home run and watched from the batter’s box until he knew it was inside the foul pole in left field at London Stadium, home of Premier League club West Ham.
Suárez (10-1) allowed two runs and eight hits in five and two-thirds innings for the Phillies, who were playing their first game outside North America. Philadelphia manager Rob Thomson earned his 200th regular-season victory (200-137).
After Starling Marte’s RBI double in the first inning, Harper pulled a sweeper from Sean Manaea (3-3) over the Mets bullpen in right field. The two-time NL MVP then did a football slide in front of the Phillies dugout and moments later shouted: “I love football!” while teammates high-fived.
Harper has a team-high 15 home runs and the Phillies are 22-0 when Harper has an RBI.
Edmundo Sosa’s two-out single gave the Phillies a 2-1 lead and Merrifield hit his third homer of the season, a drive into the Phillies bullpen. Kyle Schwarber paced Manaea with an RBI single.
Manaea gave up six runs and seven hits and allowed 11 earned runs in his last two starts, raising his ERA from 3.16 to 4.30. Manaea got off to a tough start last year in Mexico City for San Francisco.
Lindor, who had two hits and a walk, beat Harper’s throw home after J.D. Martinez grounded out in the fifth. The Mets (27-36), who had won their previous three games, were the home team and will be the road team for Sunday’s series finale. Retired captain David Wright was in the stands to watch.
Pitchers had hoped cooler weather would keep the ball in the park — it was hot during slugfests in 2019 and last year. The temperature in East London was 18 degrees Celsius at the first pitch.
The deepest a starting pitcher has gone in London was six innings by Justin Steele of the Chicago Cubs in a 9-1 win over St. Louis last year.