The Philadelphia Phillies opened a three game series against the Atlanta Braves on Tuesday evening at Citizens Bank Park. The series did not start as planned for the Phillies as in the bottom of the first inning things took a turn for the worse.

Bryce Harper was forced to leave the game early after getting drilled on the elbow by a 95.3 mph fastball from Braves starter Spencer Strider. Harper went down right away, bent over in pain as the Phillies’ athletic training staff came out and helped him over to the dugout.

Harper was immediately removed from the game. This is not the first time he has been hit in the last week, as the Athletics hit him twice in the series opener of the road series.

The Phillies went to the bench and brought in Edmundo Sosa to play third base and moved Alec Bohm to first as the immediate solution. Harper has recently turned his season around after a slow start, so this comes at a bad time for Harper who was playing with a lot of momentum recently.

X-rays negative after Bryce Harper hit-by-pitch but any absence will hurt Phillies

The good news is that X-rays were negative, per MLB.com’s Paul Casella, which is the best-case scenario after a scene like the one that Phillies fans witnessed.

It would be a tough blow if Harper needs an IL stint or misses any length of time. The Phillies have been clicking on all cylinders. Harper has turned his season around, and the timing of the injury could not be worse, potentially ending all the momentum he has had.

Bohm most likely would get most of the reps at first base, with mainly Sosa at third along with Weston Wilson. Otto Kemp could be the man called up to fill the final bench spot. The Phillies will search for answers, especially finding a new player to hit in the three spot could be challenging. Early candidates for that would be Nick Castellanos or Bohm who has swung a hot bat as of late.

Strider has never been on the Phillies fans’ list of favorites, always giving him a Philadelphia warm welcome, and this will certainly make things worse for the Braves right-hander, who has been booed since the 2022 postseason. Fans booed Strider loudly throughout the rest of the inning and most likely will continue throughout the game. Strider, recently coming off the IL, has struggled this season in two starts and is 0-2 posting a 5.79 ERA in only 9 1/3 innings of work.