Harper fulfilled his offensive prophecy with Wheeler, the team's ace starter, delivered 13 strikeouts

No one knows his striking form better than Bryce Harper.

In the St. Louis dressing room today, when talking about the Phillies 2-4 offensive struggles on the road, the conversation turned to his individual performance. Harper had a batting average of 0.250 and an attack index of 0.766 at the time, but had just blasted a ball into the left outfield warning area at Busch Field that afternoon.

"It's been a good week," Harper said, "hitting a couple of strong shots in Atlanta, and this series has been doing something similar. I think the timing of the shot was right, and there was less chasing for the slider than at the beginning of the season. About a week ago I said to my strike coach, Kevin Long, 'Give me another 10 days and I'll be back.'" Now on the seventh day, we'll see. "

Harper hit a home run on Tuesday, the ninth day of prophecy, and was picked for a tie. Day 10 (Wednesday) contributed a home run, a first base hit, and two free runs. On Friday of Day 12, he slammed a Marlins right-hand shot Sandy Alcántara into the right field stand at 106.4mph (Statcast measured flight distance) in the first inning at Citizens Bank Stadium to set the stage for the Phillies to win 7-2.

It was Harper's fifth hit of the season and his fourth in 10 games. Alcantara threw just two innings in the game, scored four hits and conceded six points, delivered two warrants and one hit, and improved his ERA to 7.27 — his shortest start since he exited the game against the Dodgers in 1.1 innings on May 14, 2021.

The Marlins had nothing to do against Philadelphia ace Zack Wheeler: they conceded two points in seven innings with 13K without a guarantee, becoming the first pitcher in team history to have a 13+ strikeouts and 0 guaranteed in a single game since Vince Velasquez's 16K seal on April 14, 2016. Another to do so is Cliff Lee, who did it twice in 2013.

Notable legacy: Cristopher Sánchez on Thursday against the Giants 12K and Wheeler 13K on Friday was the first time the Phillies have had a back-to-back 12+ strikeouts since Roy Halladay (14K) and Cliff Lee (12K) on April 24-25, 2011.