Bryce Harper came to Philadelphia with the intention to make it his home and stay in one place for a long time. He fulfilled every expectation of him with an iconic moment that will live in Philadelphia sports history.
The DH lined a two-run home run in the seventh inning to power the Phillies to a 4-3 victory over the San Diego Padres in Game 5 of the National League Championship Series at Citizens Bank Park.
Philadelphia clinched their first National League pennant since 2009 and will face the Houston Astros in the World Series, which begins on Friday.
"I hit the ball, and I just looked at my dugout and it's kind of all for them", said Harper. "It's for this whole team. It's for this whole organization."
Rhys Hoskins also went deep and is not surprised at Harper's performance in this postseason.
"Pure chaos, right? I don't think anybody was surprised", he said. "This guy has a knack for coming up in the biggest moments. It's just what he's done his whole career."
With just 87 wins, the Phillies defeated the NL Central champion St. Louis Cardinals and defending world champion Atlanta Braves before dispatching San Diego.
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In the bottom of the third, Kyle Schwarber was caught stealing with two outs, but replay overturned the call and Hoskins drilled one into the left field seats off of Padres starter Yu Darvish to make it 2-0.
Juan Soto cut the Philadelphia lead in half with a solo homer off of Wheeler and they held that advantage until the top of the seventh when Jake Cronenworth singled with one out.
Seranthony Dominguez was summoned from the bullpen and had trouble adjusting to the rainy, soggy conditions. He threw a wild pitch before Josh Bell doubled to tie the game.
Dominguez uncorked two more wild pitches which allowed pinch-runner Jose Azocar to come home and give the Padres the lead. The righty threw just three wild pitches in 51 innings this season.
J.T. Realmuto began the bottom of the eighth with a single off Robert Suarez. That brought up Harper, who took a 98mph sinker on a 2-2 count the other way to put Philadelphia in front.
The Padres had the option of bringing in lefty Josh Hader in, but manager Bob Melvin stuck with Suarez.
"It's a thought at this point, but that wasn't what we were thinking", he said. "We were trying to get to four-out position for Hader, and had a lot of confidence in Suarez."
In the ninth, David Robertson was brought in to close the game -- and series --- out, but he issued a pair of one-out walks. Ranger Suarez came in for his first relief appearance of the season and retired Trent Grisham on a bunt and got Austin Nola to fly out to end the game.