“[I] reached down bare-handed, and kind of planted the throw and that’s kind of when it just grabbed,” he said. “I thought it cramped at first, and finished the inning, but just kind of running in, I could still kind of feel it there. I talked to the trainer and he just didn’t like where the spot was for if I was to get an at-bat and had to bust it. So he wanted to get me out of there.”
Thursday was Schwarber’s third game of the season in left field. Despite the fact that it was an unfamiliar injury, he didn’t seem overly concerned.
“Nothing to really compare it to,” he said. “Me, personally, I don’t think it’s going to be super, super bad at all. So, we’ll what happens.”
Injury scares aside, it was a sloppy game all around. The Phillies made some defensive blunders, and the bullpen was uncharacteristically shaky. Starter Zack Wheeler did not have his pinpoint command. He hit one batter and walked two. The Miami Marlins fouled him off quite a bit, and ran his pitch count up to 115 pitches over 6⅔ innings.
Despite that, Wheeler grinded through his start, and at first, it seemed he would get off unscathed. But Matt Strahm, who entered in relief of Wheeler in the seventh, allowed two runs on two hits in one-third of an inning. The Marlins scored six runs in the seventh and eighth innings combined, sending the Phillies to a 7-4 loss at Citizens Bank Park.
It was an unusual outing for Strahm. The left-handed pitcher has been nothing short of dominant this year, posting a 0.86 ERA over his first 31⅓ innings pitched. That number has since ballooned to 1.42.
It’s hard to recall a more unpleasant game in recent Phillies memory. It ended with Bryce Harper running to first base in the ninth inning, feeling a grab in his lower hamstring, and limping off the field. As if that weren’t enough, Kyle Schwarber was removed with left groin tightness shortly after the eighth inning.
The Phillies had no updates to provide on either Harper or Schwarber post-game. Both players will get imaging on Friday. Both players said that they hadn’t felt anything like this before.
Harper said he felt a grab in his lower hamstring about halfway up the line. When asked how concerned he should be, he wasn’t able to provide an answer.
“I don’t know,” he said. “Like I said, I haven’t really felt anything like this before. So, if I had something to go back on, I would let you know. But I’ve never felt anything like this before, so… it hurts. But we’ll see what it feels like tomorrow.”
Schwarber said he felt his groin tighten up in the eighth inning. Otto Lopez hit a ground ball that deflected off of Edmundo Sosa’s glove. It rolled into left field, and Schwarber grabbed it, and threw it to second base.
Bryce Harper winces as he walks off the field after making the final out of the Phillies loss to the Marlins - June 27, 2024 - Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
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