In June, the San Diego Padres broke Bryce Harper's thumb. In October, Bryce Harper broke the Padres' back.
Harper hit a 2-run, 8th-inning home run to give the Phillies a 4-3 win in Game 5 of the National League Championship Series, sending Philadelphia to the World Series and the Padres home until next year.
Both teams got great outings from their starting pitchers. The only blemish for Yu Darvish came in the 3rd inning. He issued a 2-out walk to Kyle Schwarber then fell behind Rhys Hoskins 3-0 and grooved one just trying to get a strike. Hoskins jumped all over it and smoked a 2-run home run to left field to put the Phillies on top 2-0. Shortly after that the rain started to fall in Philadelphia.
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Despite rampant rumors, it was not brought down by the ball Juan Soto hit in the 4th inning.
After getting his first postseason homer as a Padre in Game 4, Soto demolished a Zack Wheeler offering and sent it flying over the left-centerfield wall nearly 440 feet away. The solo blast cut the lead in half but for a while it looked like it would be the only run the Padres would muster.
Then the 7th inning happened. You know, the same inning where the Padres scored 5 runs to knock the Dodgers out of the Division Series.
Jake Cronenworth led off with a single to chase Wheeler from the game. In came Seranthony Dominguez and his triple digit heat. Josh Bell doesn't care about high velocity. Bell ripped a line drive double to right field, bringing home Cronenworth to tie it. Manager Bob Melvin sent in Jose Azocar to pinch-run for Bell. Azocar has serious speed.
He used it to score without another ball being put in play.
Dominguez struck out Brandon Drury and Ha-Seong Kim but then his control simply left. He threw a wild pitch to Trent Grisham that allowed Azocar to go to 3rd base, then uncorked another one that let the speedster score with a slide through the mud and a 3-2 San Diego lead.
Melvin let Darvish head back out for the 7th inning but got him as soon as Bryson Stott led off with a double. In came Robert Suarez, who has been incredible in the second half of the season. He was again on Sunday. Suarez got three outs on 10 pitches and never let Stott advance.
Suarez was back out for the 8th inning. As has been the theme of all three games in Philadelphia, he was out there just a little too long. J.T. Realmuto led off with a single to bring up Harper. Had he not missed a couple of months recovering from a busted thumb he sustained when Blake Snell hit him in the hand with a pitch he might have won a second straight MVP award.
Instead he'll just have to settle for playing for a ring.
Harper launched an opposite-field homer to put the Phillies on top and their bullpen did not let it get away. The Phillies win the National League Pennant and will start the World Series on Tuesday in either Houston or New York. The Padres did more this year than most people thought they would. But, it just wasn't meant to be in 2022.
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