ST. LOUIS --
It was Harper’s seventh homer of the season, and his first since April 26. Harper entered the contest just 7-for-53 in 15 games since his career-high five-hit night in Colorado on April 19. His average dropped from .296 to .226 during that span. Tuesday marked his first multi-hit game since April 19.\n\nKapler was not concerned about the slugger’s struggles given Harper's track record.\n\n“Knowing that he went through \\[a stretch\\] similar in 2015 and he ended up winning the MVP Award tells me how resilient he is,” Kapler said. “Watching him go through it here, he never changes his work, shows up day in and day out. On a night like tonight, still busted down the line on a ball that he didn’t need to do that on, and he brings the highest work ethic and intensity on a nightly basis. He has earned the respect of everybody under this roof.”\n\nHarper has now hit safely in 10 of his last 11 games against the Cardinals dating to July 1, 2017. He is hitting .439 (18-for-41) with six homers, five doubles and 19 RBIs during that stretch.\n\n“I think anytime you come in and face anybody, you just try to go in there and have the best game you can,” Harper said. “You just try to be a good baseball player and that’s about it. You don’t really think about who you’re facing or anything like that. Just try to go out there and play the best I can.”
All six runs allowed by Hudson in the second inning were unearned, thanks to two throwing errors earlier in the frame. The first came after Kapler challenged what was originally ruled a forceout at second. After a one-minute, 20-second review, the replay determined that Kolten Wong’s throw drew Paul DeJong off of the second-base bag, allowing [Cesar Hernandez](https://www.mlb.com/player/cesar-hernandez-514917) to reach safely. Hernandez later scored on a Paul Goldschmidt throwing error, making it 2-0 before Harper’s blast cleared the bases.\n\n“That’s by far the worst inning \\[of the season\\] and clearly uncharacteristic,” said Cardinals manager Mike Shildt. “I want to apologize for it. No excuses on our end. Not to take anything away from Philadelphia. They clearly played a nice game. But that was a definition of us beating ourselves. We lost to ourselves today.”
On the mound,