PHILADELPHIA — A rare bad night for the Phillies turned exponentially worse on Friday, with the club placing Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber on the 10-day injured list.
Harper grabbed his left hamstring and limped off the field on the final play of Thursday night’s 7-4 loss to the Marlins. The NL’s leading All-Star vote-getter said he felt something in his lower hamstring when he was halfway up the first-base line on his game-ending groundout at Citizens Bank Park.
Making just his third start of the season in left field, Schwarber said he felt something “kind of grab” when he planted to throw the ball on an awkward play in the eighth.
With a runner on third, Marlins second baseman Otto Lopez hit a hard grounder toward shortstop Edmundo Sosa, who was playing in with the Phillies trailing by one. The ball went right under Sosa’s glove and Schwarber charged, barehanded it and threw off balance to second base in an attempt to get Lopez.
Schwarber initially thought it was a cramp, but it still didn’t feel right as he jogged back to the dugout after the game.
“You’re always concerned when you have to take a guy out of a game,” manager Rob Thomson said of both injuries.
Harper has landed on the injured list over the past few seasons due to Tommy John surgery, a fractured left thumb and a left forearm injury. During his time with the Nationals, he had IL stints for a hyperextended left knee, left thumb surgery and left knee bursitis.
He’s also missed games here and there with a sore back, a stiff neck, a jammed shoulder and groin tightness — but never once a hamstring issue.
“I’ve never had any soft-tissue injury besides my elbow,” Harper said.
“It stinks,” Zack Wheeler said. “You hate seeing guys get hurt. … But we can’t sulk on it.”
