If any Philadelphia Phillies fans were still wondering what Bryce Harper said to Alec Bohm before Bohm’s home run off Lance McCullers Jr. in Game 3 of the World Series, they now have a somewhat underwhelming answer.
In the bottom of the second inning, Bohm was walking to the batter’s box when Harper called him back to the dugout. Harper, who had just homered of McCullers, covered his mouth and appeared to share words of wisdom with Bohm.
Moments later, Bohm drove a first-pitch sinker over the left field wall at Citizens Bank Park to give the Phillies a 3-0 lead over the Houston Astros.
After that game, Bohm was asked about what Harper said to him. “Nothing,” Bohm replied.
As it turns out, that was the honest truth. Bohm was asked about his conversation with Harper again at Phillies spring training in Florida, and his answer remained the same. Bohm revealed that Harper was just trying to give McCullers something to think about.
“Bryce didn’t say anything,” Bohm said, via MLB.com. “I just happened to hit a homer. [Harper and Long] were yelling at me for a while. I came over and Bryce said, ‘Just stand here for a second.’ The Astros are pretty thorough, so we just gave them something to think about. It was just a little gamesmanship, a little chess match. Obviously, we won that game, but lost the series, so …”
In fact, Bohm already had an idea of what McCullers might give him on that first pitch before he even spoke to Harper. Bohm guessed correctly, and that made it look like the Phillies had some special insight on McCullers.
“I think he’s going to throw me a first-pitch sinker,” Bohm said. “He threw a sinker. You would have thought that we knew he was tipping [his pitches] because who goes up and ambushes a sinker on McCullers?”
The Phillies went on to win Game 3 by a score of 7-0, but the Astros rattled off three straight victories to win the World Series in six games.
Now Bohm is looking ahead to the 2023 season, and he will try to build off a successful 2022 campaign in which he hit .280 with 13 home runs and 72 RBI. Maybe he’ll even mix in a few more fake chats with Harper this year.
