NLCS: Bryce Harper Leads Phillies to World Series Title
(The Associated Press) By DAN KELSO
PHILADELPHIA — Bryce Harper may have been in the lineup for the first time in a series of events that left him stunned and speechless.
After the Phillies lost Game 7 of the World Series to the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday, Harper walked off the field with the game winning hit off the bat of Andrew McCutchen.
The Phillies were up two games to one in the NL playoff series and looking at a three-game sweep, but lost on Harper’s hit.
The hit — and ensuing celebration — is one that will live in the minds of Phillies fans for decades to come. Harper, who has battled injury issues this season, hit into a walk-off double in the eighth inning of Game 7, giving the Phillies a 6-5 win that eliminated the Pirates and sent the Phillies to their first ever World Series.
“Oh man, it’s hard to believe,” Phillies manager Ryne Sandberg said after Sunday’s game. “You can’t tell what just happened out there.”
Harper’s double was just the first hit the Phillies were down to get. Sandberg and his coaching staff had talked about getting players on base earlier in the game in case it was a game they needed to steal. Players were told to go around to the ball. Harper was on third base when he struck out looking on a grounder to the first baseman.
Harper was brought back to the infield by Sandberg after he was down to just two strikes. He took second from Sandberg and scored the go-ahead run when he hit a deep drive to center on the first pitch of the at-bat.
Harper would have the first of three hits off Pirates righty Gerrit Cole in Game 7.
“I could tell he was hurt, but he got a hit