Bryce Harper’s wife applauds Phillies slugger as he becomes youngest in iconic 350 HR club

Philadelphia Phillies superstar Bryce Harper reached a huge career milestone on Wednesday after going deep against the Boston Red Sox in the series finale at Citizens Bank Park.

Harper got hold of Red Sox starter Lucas Giolito's fastball in the first inning to launch a 439-foot homer, his longest since a 451-foot dinger in September 2023. It took the All-Star slugger's career home run tally to 350. He became the eighth active player to reach the milestone and the youngest in that group at 32.

Bryce Harper's wife, Kayla, shared a clip of the milestone hit on her Instagram story. She dropped a clapping emoji to acknowledge the rare feat and also shared a graphic by MLB of his 350th home run.

Yankees' Giancarlo Stanton, 434; Mike Trout, 395; Paul Goldschmidt, 370; Manny Machado, 360; Freddie Freeman, 353; Nolan Arenado and Aaron Judge, 351 are the other active players with 350+ home runs.

Bryce Harper gutted by Red Sox loss despite individual accolade

Although Bryce Harper was pumped to reach the impressive feat in the final game of the series, the two-time MVP was unhappy about being on the losing side as the Phillies failed to sweep the Red Sox.

"It’s pretty awesome,” Harper said after the loss. “On an individual note, I’m super happy about it. But I always want to win, obviously, and not getting the win was pretty tough.”

The Phillies entered the second inning with a 3-0 lead after Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper hit back-to-back homers in the first inning. The lead grew to 5-0 after Nick Castellanos and Bryson Stott's solo homers. However, the Red Sox fought back with a six-run inning after Romy Gonzalez hit a grand slam in the fifth.

Boston catcher Carlos Narvaez, who played a role in the team's last two defeats, hit a two-run homer to win the game in extra innings.

About the author

Chaitanya Prakash is an editor who covers US Sports at Sportskeeda. His first brush with sportswriting was in 2012 when the greatest football manager of all time, Sir Alex Ferguson, bid farewell to the beautiful game.

Although having started out professionally as a cricket writer in 2022, Chaitanya's curiosity and indiscriminate interest in all sports in general eventually introduced him to America's favorite pastime.

While Chaitanya's favorite player from the current crop is the dynamic Venezuelan Ronald Acuna Jr., his all-time favorite, however, is Pedro Martinez, for his self-belief and consistency. He also rates Jose Bautista's iconic bat flip in 2015 as his favorite moment in baseball history.

Chaitanya specializes in reporting on technical aspects of the game or analyzing patterns behind specific plays. He also likes pondering over players' self-assessments following the conclusion of a game as it helps him get an idea of how they think about the sport in general.

When not cheering for his favorites across sports, Chaitanya likes being transported to the past through a good war documentary or a historical documentary in general.

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Edited by Chaitanya Prakash