PHILADELPHIA – First baseman Bryce Harper made a short-lived return to the Philadelphia Phillies’ lineup, with the All-Star set to sit out Wednesday night against Los Angeles because of a bruised left hand.
Harper — who had missed the previous nine games with a strained left hamstring — was hurt at an unspecified point in Tuesday’s 10-1 win over the Dodgers. Phillies manager Rob Thomson said Harper’s hand was bruised on a groundball in the first inning. Harper, though, clearly grabbed his hand and hunched over in pain on a second-inning chopper by Miguel Rojas.
All-Star third baseman Alec Bohm moved to first and Edmundo Sosa started at third base for Philadelphia.
Harper is hitting .299 with 20 homers and 58 RBIs for the Phillies, who entered Wednesday with the best record in baseball.
A two-time NL MVP, Harper won consecutive National League Player of the Month awards in May and June. He is near the top of the NL in several categories, including average, homers, RBIs, on-base percentage, slugging percentage and on-base plus slugging percentage.
Harper said Tuesday he would play in the July 16 All-Star Game at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas.
Thomson also said All-Star right-hander Zack Wheeler was still “a little sore” but no structural damage was found after an MRI on his back. Wheeler left his start Tuesday night against Los Angeles after five innings with left low back tightness but still picked up the win. He threw 76 pitches on a steamy night in Philadelphia.
Thomson said he didn’t know yet if Wheeler would make his next scheduled start, on Sunday against Oakland.
The 34-year-old Wheeler conceded his back has bothered him at least since a June 22 win over Arizona in Philadelphia. He took the loss in his June 27 start at Miami.
“I landed kind of hard here on the mound before we left for that road trip,” Wheeler said Tuesday. “It just tightened up on me then and just had to deal with it and treat it here and there.”
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