Bryce Harper pulls off a straight steal of home, until it gets overturned on review
· Yahoo Sports
No one has ever accused Bryce Harper of not taking risks.
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The Philadelphia Phillies star nearly accomplished one of the most thrilling plays in baseball, a straight steal of home, and actually pulled it off at first glance against the Los Angeles Angels.
With two outs in the eighth inning and the Phillies up 1-0, Harper tried to surprise Angels reliever Trevor Martin from third base. Martin quickly got the ball to the plate, but Harper had a decent jump and was called safe after making contact with Angels catcher Travis d'Arnaud.
The Angels challenged the call and had it overturned, with replay leaving it a question of whether his hand touched the plate at all. D'Arnaud had the plate completely blocked as the ball came in (which he is allowed to do under MLB rules).
Bryce Harper initially had a steal of home before the call was reversed pic.twitter.com/W2KEbAHeQ8
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) August 30, 2026
Oddly enough, that was the second stolen base attempt to be reviewed that inning. As Harper was hitting, Trea Turner attempted to steal third base and was thrown out.
In contrast to the Harper call, replay sure seemed to show Turner getting his hand to the bag before the tag, only for the call to be upheld for the second out of the inning.
All of that wound up being pretty relevant to the outcome of the game as Angels shortstop Zach Neto hit a game-tying homer in the bottom of the inning, the culmination of a 12-pitch battle with Phillies reliever Jonathan Bowlan.
Zach Neto crushes a solo shot to tie the game in the 8th inning 💥 pic.twitter.com/8UtNMGrBwP
— MLB (@MLB) August 30, 2026
A scoreless ninth inning sent the game to extras, where the Phillies managed to make their baserunning mistakes moot. Harper and Turner both reached base in a three-run rally in the top of the 10th, giving the Phillies a 4-2 win.
This was arguably the second-most dramatic finish of the series, as the Phillies won Friday night via a sequence that included a home run robbery and a grand slam. This win improves the Phillies' record to 76-60, keeping them on solid footing in the NL wild-card race.
They currently hold the second wild-card spot and have a four-game cushion on both the San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks for a playoff spot.
Meanwhile, the Angels are now tied with the Colorado Rockies for the worst record in MLB at 52-84.