Bryce Harper homers in his return to the lineup in Phillies' series-opening win over Blue Jays

Lochlahn March, The Philadelphia Inquirer on Jun 3, 2025

Published in Baseball

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

TORONTO — Bryce Harper was armored with a black sleeve and red arm guard on the right elbow he’d spent the past week nursing back to health.

The Phillies had certainly felt the absence of the two-time MVP in their lineup, going 1-4 with him unavailable after getting hit by a Spencer Strider fastball. But as soon as he stepped into the on-deck circle for the first time at the Rogers Centre, the Phillies’ fortune started to turn.

Trea Turner sent a two-run homer hurtling into the visitors’ bullpen to bring Harper to the plate. Harper swung through a fastball from Toronto starter Bowden Francis, fouled off another, then crushed a splitter for a homer of his own, which also landed in the visitors’ bullpen.

Turner and Harper’s twin blasts sparked a six-run first inning for the Phillies in their 8-3 win over the Toronto Blue Jays. They sent 11 men to the plate and racked up six hits in the first, and they weren’t just lucky. Every hit in the inning clocked an exit velocity harder than 99 mph, and Harper’s homer was hardest of all, a blistering 104.9 mph off the bat.

Harper walked to lead off the second inning, and came home to score the Phillies’ seventh run of the night on a fielding error, after advancing on a single from Alec Bohm.

Turner hit his second homer of the game, this one to left field, in the eighth inning off Toronto reliever Erik Swanson. He finished 3 for 5. Bohm hit four singles.

Meanwhile, Phillies starter Cristopher Sánchez held Toronto to just four hits over six innings. South Jersey native Davis Schneider spoiled the Phillies’ shutout in the fifth inning with a solo home run to right-center field.

Sánchez issued a season-high four walks — including walking the bases loaded in the fifth — but was able to escape trouble each time by inducing soft contact on the ground.

After a scoreless seventh from Joe Ross, Max Lazar surrendered a two-run home run to Addison Barger in the eighth. Carlos Hernández pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to end the game.