PHILADELPHIA -- Bryce Harper was on a mission from the moment he arrived at Citizens Bank Park on Saturday afternoon.
It's rare to see him take batting practice on the field before a game. It's even rarer to see any player hit baseballs where Harper was putting them.
But the rarest event of all came later when Harper hit for the cycle for the first time in his 15-year MLB career in a 15-3 rout of the Mets on Saturday at Citizens Bank Park.
Mired in a week-long slump, Harper joined a handful of Phillies teammates for some early BP. Though he typically prefers to do his pregame work in the cages, Harper strolled out to the field more than four hours before first pitch and proceeded to unleash some majestic blasts -- including a couple off the facade of the seldom-reached third deck.
Once the ballpark had filled up, Harper smashed a no-doubt homer -- albeit slightly less impressive than his BP spectacle -- in his first at-bat of what proved to be one of the best games of his career.
Two innings later, Harper lined a ball into right-center field for what appeared to be a routine single ... only to force the issue and slide safely into second base for a double. Later in that same frame -- moments after Kyle Schwarber had hit his second home run of the inning -- Harper grounded a ball through the right side for a single.
Needing the elusive triple to complete the cycle, Harper had only one thing on his mind when he lined a ball into the left-center-field gap in the fifth inning: Get to third base.
Harper had been close many times before. Prior to Saturday, he had 21 games in which he finished a triple shy of the cycle.
He wasn't going to be denied this time.
Harper busted out of the box and never broke stride as he barreled around the bases. Though he had no intentions of stopping either way, it was perhaps fortunate for Harper that the Mets elected to try to throw out Schwarber at home.
As Schwarber crossed the plate safely, Harper -- who lost his helmet on the way to second base -- slid into third, then popped up immediately and raised his arms to the sky. He unleashed an emphatic fist pump, then raised them again.
With Harper and Schwarber, the Phillies became the second team in MLB history with players with a cycle and 3+ homers in the same game, joining Tony Lazzeri (cycle) & Lou Gehrig (4 HR) on June 3, 1932, vs. the Philadelphia Athletics.
Meanwhile, Harper became the 10th Phillies player to hit for the cycle, and the first since Weston Wilson in 2024. It's the 11th cycle in franchise history overall (Chuck Klein did it twice).