A bad day for Freddy Peralta created a very memorable night for the Phillies. On Saturday night at Citizens Bank Park, the Phillies blasted Peralta and the Mets, tagging him for a career-high 10 earned runs allowed in only 2 ⅔ innings. Philadelphia went on to win the game 15-3 (box score). It was their highest scoring game since a 19-run outburst on Aug. 28.
Kyle Schwarber was the star for the Phillies ... unless it was Bryce Harper? Schwarber hit three home runs in the game, including two in the eight-run third inning. Harper hit for the cycle. They are the second set of teammates with a cycle and three homers in the same game, joining Yankees legends Lou Gehrig (four homers) and Tony Lazzeri (cycle), who did it on June 3, 1932.
"We were wondering that in the dugout. We didn't think there was going to be two other guys that did it," Harper said (via MLB.com). "But to have those two names up against ours is pretty cool. It's a pretty awesome moment for both of us."
Harper hit a home run in the first inning, a double in the third inning, a single later in the third inning, then a triple in the fifth. It is his first career cycle. Schwarber went deep twice in the third and then again in the seventh. Combined, the two Phillies stars went 8 for 10 with a double, a triple, four homers, and 9 RBI in Saturday's win. Here are their hits in chronological order:
"Obviously, doing that at the big league level is really cool," Harper said about his cycle (via MLB.com). "... Got close a couple times, but being able to do that -- having that moment -- is really cool."
Because we love to rank and debate things, Saturday's game raises the question: Who had the more impressive game, Harper or Schwarber? They're both impressive, of course, but was one more noteworthy than the other? You know the guys in the clubhouse are joking about it and trying to figure out who has bragging rights. We might as well chime in too.
Let's talk through Harper's and Schwarber's nights and pick the more impressive performance using a very scientific and infallible scoring system I may or may not have just made up.
The case for Harper
The performance: 4 for 5 with a double, a triple, a homer, and 3 RBI
Historic relevance: It is Harper's first career cycle and only the 11th in Phillies history, even though the franchise has been around since 1883. Furthermore, Harper is only the seventh player in the Expansion Era (since 1961) to complete the cycle in the first five innings. The record is four innings by Mike Lansing in 2000. Harper wasn't too far off the record. Let's go 7/10 for history.
Style points: For my money, the coolest way to complete the cycle is with a walk-off home run, which has been done a few times. The second coolest is with the triple, especially at home, like Harper. He raced around the bases -- he was thinking three out of the box -- and the crowd rose in anticipation as Harper chugged around second to seemingly set up a play at third. The throw instead went home. Had Harper slowed down around second, it would have been a double and advancing to third on the throw, but he didn't slow down, so it's a triple. That's a pretty cool way to finish off a cycle. For style points, I'm going 9/10.
The cool factor: Cycles are an underrated cool baseball thing. Yes, it is possible to have a better game than a cycle, but there's a beauty in filling up every column of the box score and getting one of everything. There have been 351 cycles in MLB history and 327 no-hitters, so a similar total. Think about it, though: only two pitchers per game have a chance to throw a no-hitter while 18 hitters have a chance to hit for the cycle. Way more players have a chance to hit for the cycle than they do to throw a no-hitter, yet there have been a similar number of cycles and no-hitters. Cycles are cool. Don't be curmudgeonly about it. I'm going 10/10 for the cool factor.
Did it matter? Harper's first-inning homer gave the Phillies a quick 1-0 lead. Neither his double nor his single drove in a run, and while his triple drove in two, the Phillies were already up 11-1 at the time. Basic win probability puts Harper's contributions at +0.12, meaning he gets "credit" for 12% of the win. That was second behind only starting pitcher Cristopher Sánchez at +0.15. I'll go with a solid 8/10 for Harper's contributions to the win.
Total: That all adds up to a healthy 34/40 for Harper's five-inning cycle. An undeniably historic and flat-out cool baseball thing, but also not a top-of-the-line occurrence.
The case for Schwarber
The performance: 4 for 5 with three homers and 4 RBI
Historic relevance: Schwarber now has five career three-homer games, tied for fourth most in history behind Mookie Betts, Johnny Mize, and Sammy Sosa. They have six each. Also, it was Schwarber's fourth three-homer game with the Phillies. That breaks a tie with inner-circle Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt and sets a new franchise record. The two-homer third inning adds to the history too. Schwarber is the 67th player with a two-homer inning, and the fourth Phillie. I can't go 10/10 here because it feels like there is a way to top this, but I'll go 9/10 for history, sure.
Style points: The third home run was a little poke down the line that stayed just fair. The first two were near-identical monster blasts into the second deck. The first was 456 feet, the second 457 feet, and they landed in roughly the same area. The two home runs looked so similar that I thought I was watching a replay of the first homer when he hit the second. Schwarber is the first player in the Statcast era (since 2015) with two 450-foot homers in the same inning. He's the ninth player with two 450-foot homers in the same game, and three of the other eight came in Coors Field, where home run distances get inflated by the thin mountain air. Stylistically, this is as good as it gets. Two titanic blasts in one inning to almost the same spot. Easy 10/10 here.
The cool factor: Two home runs in one inning is the pinnacle of cool to me. You went deep, your teammates batted around and gave you another chance to bat, and then rewarded them by going deep again. Three-homer games have become common enough that they've lost some luster (Schwarber, in fact, has a four-homer game to his name), but two-homer innings remain rare. Add in the fact they were two aesthetically pleasing shots in the second deck, and I'm going 10/10 for coolness.
Did it matter? Schwarber's first third-inning homer was a solo homer to give the Phillies a 4-0 lead. His second third-inning homer was a three-run blast that stretched the lead to 11-0, and turned the game into a laugher. The third homer was as low-stakes as it gets. The Phillies were up 13-3 in the seventh, and Schwarber made it 15-3. At that point, everyone was rooting for history. The home run itself was irrelevant to the outcome. Because his final two homers were low-leverage shots, Schwarber finished the game with only +0.05 win probability added, fourth on the team behind Sánchez (+0.15), Harper (+0.12), and Justin Crawford (+0.08). Did it matter? Yeah, but not especially. I'm going 6/10 here.
Total: Add it all up and Schwarber is at 35/40 for Saturday's game, one point ahead of Harper's score. Did I put my thumb on the scale and nudge Schwarber ahead after they finished tied with my initial scores? The world will never know. What I do know is that, according to our honorable and indisputable scoring system, Schwarber's two-homer inning/three-homer game was more impressive than Harper's five-inning cycle. It has been settled and no appeals will be heard.
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