Harper returned with new elbow pads and fired Turner's double cannon helped the Phillies beat the Blue Jays with six points in the first game

Bryce Harper announced his return in the quickest and loudest way. After missing five games, he hit a laser-like home run in the first inning at the Rodgers Center on Wednesday morning (Tuesday night local time in Toronto) to help the Phillies beat the Blue Jays 8-3. This bomb is part of the team's single-game six-point offense.

Wearing an elbow pad on his right arm (the site of a 95.3-mile speedball touched by Atlanta Warriors Spencer Streder a week ago), Harper displayed his trademark violent swing as he stepped into the strike zone. It has a league swing speed of 74.4 mph and a muzzle velocity of 76.6 mph at home plate. Harper's initial velocity on all three shots exceeded 75 mph (up to the "fast swing" standard), proving that the elbow injury did not affect his signature swing mechanism. "Obviously, I have to keep up the high swing power," said Harper, who hit three and hit one, two and two points, "and if I didn't have that today, I wouldn't be on the court." "

Despite his swing speed, Harper's long-term batting percentage has dropped slightly this season – 0.450 before the tournament is the lowest since 2016. However, its expected batting average of 0.518 is still close to the career average of 0.519. His right arm is still swollen and sore, so he will wear a double layer of protection for a long time: a red long-sleeved underwear covered with a black cushioning sheath, and a reinforced hard-shell elbow pad on the surface. "It's a little bulky but the protection works," Harper admits.

Harper's first-inning home run followed Trea Turner's two-run (Turner added another in eight innings) for the first time since Aug. 15, 2024, against the Nationals (Alec Bohm and Nick Castellanos hit back-to-back). Of the team's 11 bats in the first inning, seven shots averaged over 99.0 mph, knocking out Blue Jays starter Bowden Francis.

Cristopher Sánchez, who holds a huge lead, lost one point in six games (four guarantees) to block the line, and scored ≤ 3 points in 10 consecutive starts. The core of this game is still Harper's return to the depth of the line: the Phillies are averaging 4.82 points per game (sixth in the league) and an attack index of 0.740, while the team averaged only 3.5 points per game during Harper's six games (May 28 to June 2), including ≤ 3 points in four games. The six-point offensive in the first game ended a four-game losing streak, and it marked Harper's return to victory. "His presence has revolutionized the tactical layout of the opponent," Turner stressed, "and his multidimensional influence is what makes him great." "