Phillies manager explains why team did not retaliate for Bryce Harper HBP

No Braves were hit on Tuesday, and that continued in the first game of Thursday’s doubleheader at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. Before the doubleheader, Phillies manager Rob Thomson made it clear that retaliation was not coming.

“It’s not on purpose. Simple as that,” Thomson told reporters. “If I think somebody’s throwing at one of our hitters, I don’t know what I’d do, but if it’s a pitch that gets away from a pitcher, which I believe it was and think that everybody in the clubhouse thinks it was, that’s baseball. It happens.”

The Phillies could get in trouble with MLB if they are deemed to intentionally throw at an Atlanta hitter, so Thomson is never going to admit to anything even if a Braves player is targeted. However, there does not appear to be any real hunger in the Phillies clubhouse to get even with the Braves over a pitch that they think was unintentional, even if there is no love lost between the two teams.

Harper has not played since getting hit on the elbow, but the injury does not sound serious. The Phillies have won the first two games of the series, even without him in the lineup.