August 15, 2019: Bryce Harper’s walk-off grand slam powers Phillies’ comeback win over Cubs

At the November 2018 MLB owners meeting, Philadelphia Phillies managing partner John Middleton made a bold assertion on the team’s offseason plans. “We’re going into this expecting to spend money. And maybe even be a little stupid about it. We know the free-agent class is really, really good,” Middleton said.1

Heading that free-agent class were two dynamic 26-year-old star:, Los Angeles Dodgers infielder Manny Machado and Washington Nationals right fielder Bryce Harper. Philadelphia made a strong pitch to each player, and one week after Machado inked a deal with the San Diego Padres, the Phillies signed Harper — whose seven seasons with Washington had netted NL Rookie of the Year and MVP honors, a home-run crown, and six All-Star selections — to a record-setting 13-year, $330 million contract.

Harper was Philadelphia’s marquee addition, but general manager Matt Klentak also traded for shortstop Jean Segura from the Seattle Mariners and catcher J.T. Realmuto from the Miami Marlins. The Phillies had not finished over .500 since winning five National League East Division titles from 2007 through 2011— a period that yielded two pennants and the 2008 World Series title — but in 2018 Philadelphia had improved its win total by 14 games over the previous year. Now, in manager Gabe Kapler’s second season, the team appeared poised to take the next step.

On Thursday, August 15, 2019, Philadelphia was within striking range of a playoff spot as the Phillies held a 62-58 record. They had won the first two games of a midweek series with the Chicago Cubs, and a sweep of the three-game set would send a statement against one of the teams they were battling for playoff position.

Chicago had reached the playoffs the last four seasons — winning the World Series in 2016 — and entered the day tied for first in the NL Central Division with the St. Louis Cardinals.2 They were striving to extend their postseason streak in manager Joe Maddon’s fifth season at the helm.

Yu Darvish, one day shy of his 33rd birthday, started for Chicago. He had signed a six-year contract with the Cubs prior to the 2018 season but was limited to eight starts that year due to an elbow injury. Healthy again for 2019, Darvish was making his 25th start of the season, and he entered the game with a 4-6 record and 4.43 ERA.

Drew Smyly, whom Philadelphia signed as a free agent three weeks earlier, started for the Phillies. 3 He allowed just two Chicago baserunners in the first two innings, a walk to July trading deadline acquisition Nick Castellanos in the first and a hit-by-pitch of David Bote in the second.

Darvish began his outing by striking out leadoff hitter Rhys Hoskins. Harper, whose three hits in the previous night’s 11-1 Philadelphia win had included two home runs, was hit by a pitch and stole second with Realmuto at the plate. But Harper was stranded when both Realmuto and cleanup hitter Corey Dickerson—a late July trade acquisition from the Pittsburgh Pirates— popped up to first baseman Anthony Rizzo in foul territory.

Philadelphia collected its first two hits over the next three innings but failed to score. Adam Haseley singled in the third, and Realmuto led off the fourth with an opposite-field double. Darvish, however, struck out four in that span, including Harper on three pitches to end the third.

Chicago scored its first run in the top of the third. With one out, Rizzo — batting leadoff for just the second time that season — blasted a long home run over the right-field wall. “It gives him a chance to get the lineup going earlier with him up there on top,” said Maddon about batting Rizzo leadoff.4

Chicago added three more runs in the fourth to extend its lead to 4-0. Ian Happ stroked a leadoff triple into the right-field corner and scored on Bote’s double into the left-center gap. Victor Caratini and eighth-place hitter Darvish struck out swinging,5 but Albert Almora pushed a single into right, plating Bote with the third run. Almora moved to third on a throwing error by Segura and scored on Rizzo’s single to right.

In the fifth, Cubs left fielder Kyle Schwarber made it 5-0 by blasting his 28th home run of the season — and the 100th of his career. The 26-year-old slugger was in his fifth season with the club that had selected him fourth overall out of Indiana University in the June 2014 amateur draft. Smyly completed the inning, but he was finished for the day after, having surrendered five runs on seven hits.

Philadelphia’s best chance to score off Darvish came in the bottom of the fifth. Scott Kingery struck out, and Haseley was hit by a pitch. Veteran Logan Morrison, called up a day earlier after spending the season in the minors,6 pinch-hit for Smyly. He slapped a single through the right side, giving the Phillies two base runners in an inning for the first time.

Hoskins came to the plate with Harper on deck. Morrison took his lead off first as Hoskins took ball one. On the next pitch — another ball — Caratini snapped a throw to Rizzo at first, and Morrison was tagged out trying to scramble back. Haseley advanced to third on a wild pitch, and two pitches later, Hoskins popped up to shallow center. Harper was left standing in the on-deck circle.

Darvish carried his dominance into the sixth and seventh innings, fanning four of the seven hitters to reach a total of 10 strikeouts. 7 Through seven scoreless frames, he had allowed just four hits and issued no walks.

Phillies reliever Juan Nicasio8 replaced Smyly in the sixth and held Chicago scoreless for two innings, aided by Harper throwing out Castellanos trying to stretch a single into a double in the seventh.9 In the eighth, Kapler summoned Ranger Suárez from the bullpen. The 23-year-old lefty, signed as an international free agent in 2012, was competing in his first full major-league season. Caratini stroked a two-out single, but pinch-hitter Tony Kemp, batting for Darvish, grounded out to end the inning.

With Darvish out of the game after 92 pitches, the Phillies’ bats finally showed life. Roman Quinn, who replaced Haseley in the eighth as part of a double switch, stroked a leadoff double to left off reliever Kyle Ryan. Hoskins walked, and both runners advanced on a Harper groundout. Ryan was replaced by Rowan Wick, who struck out Realmuto. Dickerson then singled to right, scoring Quinn to make it a four-run game, but Hoskins was nailed at home on a strong throw from Castellanos.

Suárez walked Castellanos and Kris Bryant with two outs in the ninth, but Schwarber struck out, sending the game to the bottom of the inning with Chicago leading 5-1. César Hernández reached on an error, and Kingery, who had struck out three times against Darvish, singled to center. Pinch-hitter Brad Miller singled to score Hernández, knocking Wick from the game.

Quinn beat out an infield single off new Cubs reliever Pedro Strop, which drove in Kingery to cut the deficit to 5-3. Hoskins was hit by a pitch to load the bases, prompting veteran left-hander Derek Holland to enter and face Harper. The 32-year-old Holland, a longtime starter with the Texas Rangers, had been acquired for cash from the San Francisco Giants in July.

Harper crushed Holland’s sixth pitch to deep right field. “We knew it was a home run off the bat,” said Kapler. “We just obviously needed it to stay fair.”10

The ball landed in the upper deck, just inside the foul pole, for a walk-off grand slam. It was Harper’s 25th home run of the season, sixth career walk-off homer, and fifth career grand slam.  He was mobbed at home plate as the Phillies celebrated their six-run ninth and 7-5 comeback victory. 11

Harper finished the season with 35 home runs, but Philadelphia again fell short of the playoffs, coming in fourth in the NL East Division at 81-81.12 The Phillies continued spending on free agents in subsequent seasons — including Schwarber and Castellanos in spring 2022,13 when they finally broke through, advancing to the World Series as NL champions. 14

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Gary Belleville and copy-edited by Mike Eisenbath.

Photo credit: Bryce Harper, Trading Card Database.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball Reference.com and Retrosheet.org for information including the box score and play-by-play.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/PHI/PHI201908150.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2019/B08150PHI2019.htm

Notes

1 Bob Nightengale, “Phillies Will Spend Big Bucks in Free Agency, ‘Maybe Even Be a Little Stupid About It,’” USA Today, November 16, 2018.

2 St. Louis led Chicage in winning percentage .534 to .533.

3 The 30-year-old Smyly had been released by both the Texas Rangers and Milwaukee Brewers in 2019, before signing with Philadelphia on July 21.

4 Mark Gonzales, “Harper Slugs Walk-Off Grand Slam to Stun Cubs,” Chicago Tribune, August 16, 2019: 3-1.

5 Maddon batted his starting pitchers eighth in 22 games in 2019, including Darvish five times.

6 Morrison signed a minor-league contract with Philadelphia on July 15 — after the New York Yankees released him from a minor-league contract — and joined the Phillies on August 14 for his 10th big-league season.

7 It was one of six double-digit strikeout games for Darvish in 2019, on his way to ranking tied for seventh in the NL with 229 strikeouts.

8 Nicasio was acquired in the same trade that brought Segura to Philadelphia

9 “Harper Nabs Castellanos at 2nd,” MLB.com, August 15, 2019, 0:35, https://www.mlb.com/video/harper-nabs-castellanos-at-2nd?partnerId=web_video-playback-page_video-share.

10 Matt Breen, “Harper’s Slam in 9th Finishes Off the Cubs,” Philadelphia Inquirer, August 16, 2019: D1.

11 “Harper’s Winning Grand Slam,” MLB.com, August 15, 2019, 1:57, https://www.mlb.com/video/harper-s-winning-grand-slam?partnerId=web_video-playback-page_video-share.

12 The 2019 Cubs missed the postseason for the first time under Maddon’s leadership. He departed after the season to manage the Los Angeles Angels, thus returning to the organization where he began his managerial career in 1981 with the rookie-level Idaho Falls Angels of the Pioneer League.

13 Schwarber signed a four-year $79 million contract and Castellanos signed a five-year $100 million contract.

14 The Phillies lost the 2022 World Series to the Houston Astros in six games.