Bryce Harper leads Phillies' offensive explosion in 13-0 blowout win over Giants

Lochlahn March, The Philadelphia Inquirer on Jul 9, 2025

Published in Baseball

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SAN FRANCISCO — Bryce Harper felt like he was getting close.

Entering Wednesday’s series finale against the San Francisco Giants, he was still searching for his timing — and his first extra-base hit — since returning from the injured list on June 30.

Harper felt confident heading into the series opener on Monday. He singled and walked in his first two plate appearances at Oracle Park. But Harper also was on the wrong end of some dubious strike calls by home plate umpire Phil Cuzzi, which forced him out of the zone to protect the plate. The next day, he went 0 for 4.

But in Wednesday’s 13-0 win over the Giants, Harper made up for lost time. He hit a homer and three doubles, all opposite field, to emphatically prevent the sweep. It marked the first game of Harper’s career with four extra-base hits.

For the first time all series, the Phillies combined a strong offensive showing and a strong pitching performance. Starter Jesús Luzardo tossed seven shutout innings for his longest outing since May 25. He held the Giants to three hits, one of which was a bloop to right field.

Luzardo rebounded from his previous start, in which he struggled with his command out of the stretch and only lasted two innings. Even when Luzardo had runners on base on Wednesday, he didn’t spiral.

Harper homered off Giants starter Justin Verlander in the fourth inning and led off the sixth and eighth innings with a double. He came around to score both times, and he wasn’t done there.

The Phillies batted around in the eighth and scored seven runs for their biggest inning of the season. Three of those came courtesy of Kyle Schwarber, who hit an opposite-field home run of his own.

Harper doubled to lead off the frame, and when he came back up to the plate, he knocked another double to left for his second of the inning and third of the game. Each of his doubles came off a different Giants pitcher.

The big inning gave relievers Seth Johnson and Joe Ross a comfortable lead for the eighth and ninth innings, respectively. Right fielder Mike Yastrzemski pitched the ninth for the Giants, and the Phillies tacked on two more runs. Collectively, they outhit San Francisco, 17-4.

The Phillies finished 6 for 17 with runners in scoring position. All nine Phillies starters recorded at least one RBI.

Max Kepler was removed from the game in the eighth with a bruised right shin.