Bryce Harper hurts hamstring on final play of Phillies' 7-4 loss to Marlins

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Bryce Harper limped off the field with an apparent hamstring injury after making the final out for the Philadelphia Phillies in their 7-4 loss to the Miami Marlins on Thursday night.

Hustling down the line as he tried to beat out a grounder to the right side, Harper reached for his left hamstring after crossing first base and hobbled toward the dugout. He will undergo imaging Friday.

“I felt my lower hammy, just a little bit. We’re going to get an image tomorrow and see what that looks like,” Harper said. “See how I feel tomorrow and go from there."

Philadelphia teammate Kyle Schwarber also got hurt, exiting in the ninth inning after experiencing left groin tightness on an awkward throw from the outfield. Schwarber, normally a designated hitter, started in left field — just his third game in the field all season.

“I reached down to grab the ball barehanded and kind of planted for the throw and felt it grab,” Schwarber said. “I thought it was just a cramp at first and I finished the inning. But, as I was running in (between innings) I could still kind of feel it, so I talked to the trainer and he didn’t like where the spot was … so he wanted to get me out of there.”

Harper said he's “never really had a soft-tissue injury” before. He said he felt discomfort about halfway down the first base line. Asked how concerned he was, he seemed cautious.

“I don’t know,” he said. “Like I said, I never felt anything like this before. It hurts.”

Earlier in the day, the slugger was elected by fans to start at first base for the National League in the July 16 All-Star Game at Texas. Schwarber is one of six other Philadelphia players who are finalists to start at their positions in the next round of voting.

Harper is hitting .303 with 20 home runs and 58 RBIs.

“He just felt his hamstring grab going down the line. Don’t know anything more than that," Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. "We’ll just have to wait until tomorrow and check him out.”

Jake Burger hit a go-ahead solo homer for Miami in the eighth after Bryan De La Cruz tied the score at 3 with a three-run double in the seventh.

Burger sent a first-pitch slider from reliever Jeff Hoffman (3-1) into the left-field seats to snap a 4-all tie, then added an RBI single in the ninth to make it 7-4.

“It always feels good to do that,” Burger said. “It’s frustrating with how the last few weeks have gone for me and not contributing more, so to hit a go-ahead home run and drive in an insurance run there in the ninth is great.”

De La Cruz cleared the bases in a four-run seventh with a double off reliever Matt Strahm, who allowed multiple runs in an appearance for the first time since opening day.

Josh Bell followed with an RBI double of his own to give the Marlins a 4-3 lead. It was the 200th double of his career. Bell has 48 RBIs in 62 career games against Philadelphia.

“It didn’t look great for half of the game, but we had a really good seventh inning,” Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said. “Big hits from De La Cruz and Josh Bell. It was just one of those hard-fought games. Their bullpen is really good. We needed good at-bats throughout the lineup. That’s how you score seven runs.”

Anthony Bender (3-2) won in relief despite allowing an unearned run in the seventh that briefly tied the score at 4. Tanner Scott pitched a perfect ninth to earn his 11th save.

Marlins starter Trevor Rogers permitted three runs and six hits over six innings.

The Phillies built a 3-0 lead beginning with an RBI double in the first by Harper, who extended his hitting streak to 12 games. He was chosen for his eighth All-Star Game on Thursday, seventh as a starter, as the leading vote-getter among NL players in the first round of fan balloting.

Rafael Marchán homered and Edmundo Sosa had an RBI single for the Phillies. Zack Wheeler yielded two runs and seven hits in 6 2/3 innings.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Phillies: Placed RHP Spencer Turnbull on the 15-day injured list with a right lat strain. Thomson said Turnbull, who left a start Wednesday in Detroit after just three innings, will miss six to eight weeks. RHP Yunior Marté was recalled from Triple-A Lehigh Valley. Thomson said RHP Michael Mercado will move into the rotation next week to take Turnbull’s spot.

Marlins: C Christian Bethancourt was sent outright to Triple-A Jacksonville after he went unclaimed on waivers. As a player with more than three years of service time, he can refuse the assignment and elect free agency, but being 43 days short of five years’ experience, he would have to forfeit the remainder of his $2.05 million salary if he decided to do that.

UP NEXT

Marlins RHP Kyle Turner (0-0, 4.50 ERA) faces Phillies LHP Cristopher Sánchez (5-3, 2.67) on Friday.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

Philadelphia Phillies' Whit Merrifield reacts after flying out against Miami Marlins pitcher A.J. Puk during the eighth inning of a baseball game, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Miami Marlins' Jake Burger, right, celebrates with Nick Gordon after hitting a home run against Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Jeff Hoffman during the eighth inning of a baseball game, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Philadelphia Phillies' Trea Turner, left, scores past Miami Marlins catcher Ali Sanchez on a sacrifice fly by Alec Bohm during the seventh inning of a baseball game, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Philadelphia Phillies' Trea Turner, right, scores past Miami Marlins catcher Ali Sanchez on a sacrifice fly by Alec Bohm during the seventh inning of a baseball game, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Miami Marlins' Otto Lopez hits a run-scoring fielder's choice against Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Jeff Hoffman during the eighth inning of a baseball game, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Miami Marlins' Tanner Scott and Ali Sanchez celebrate after winning a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Miami Marlins' Jake Burger hits a run-scoring single against Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Yunior Marte during the ninth inning of a baseball game, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Philadelphia Phillies' Bryce Harper reacts after hitting a run-scoring double against Miami Marlins pitcher Trevor Rogers during the first inning of a baseball game, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Philadelphia Phillies' Bryce Harper, left, walks off the field after grounding out against Miami Marlins pitcher Tanner Scott during the ninth inning of a baseball game, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Philadelphia Phillies' Bryce Harper stumbles after grounding out during the ninth inning of a baseball game against the Miami Marlins, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron has voted Sunday in the first round of surprise elections he called for just three weeks ago.

The centrist leader placed a huge gamble in dissolving the lower house of parliament after major gains for the far right in European elections in early June. Two rounds of voting will determine who will be prime minister and which party controls the National Assembly.

Macron risks sharing power with parties opposed to most of his policies.

The vote takes place during the traditional first week of summer vacation in France, and absentee ballot requests were at least five times higher than in the 2022 elections.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

PARIS (AP) — Voters across mainland France have been casting ballots Sunday in the first round of an exceptional parliamentary election that could put France’s government in the hands of nationalist, far-right parties for the first time since the Nazi era.

The outcome of the two-round election, which will wrap up July 7, could impact European financial markets, Western support for Ukraine, and how France’s nuclear arsenal and global military force are managed.

Many French voters are frustrated about inflation and economic concerns, as well as President Emmanuel Macron’s leadership, which they see as arrogant and out-of-touch with their lives. Marine Le Pen’s anti-immigration National Rally party has tapped and fueled that discontent, notably via online platforms like TikTok, and dominated all preelection opinion polls.

A new coalition on the left, the New Popular Front, is also posing a challenge to the pro-business Macron and his centrist alliance Together for the Republic.

There are 49.5 million registered voters who will choose 577 members of the National Assembly, France's influential lower house of parliament, during the two-round voting.

Marine Le Pen, leader of France’s resurgent National Rally, cast her ballot in her party's stronghold in northern France on Sunday.

Turnout at midday at the first round stood at 25.9 % according to interior ministry figures, which is higher from the 2022 legislative elections at this time of the day. It was 18.43% at midday two years ago.

After a blitz campaign marred by rising hate speech, voting began early in France’s overseas territories, and polling stations opened in mainland France at 8 a.m. (0600 GMT) Sunday. The first polling projections are expected at 8 p.m. (1800 GMT), when the final polling stations close, and early official results are expected later Sunday night.

The voting is taking place during the traditional first week of summer vacation in the country, and absentee ballot requests were at least five times higher than in the 2022 elections, according to figures from the interior ministry.

Voters who turned out in person at a Paris polling station on Sunday had issues from immigration to inflation and the rising cost of living on their minds as the country has grown more divided between the far right and far left blocs with a deeply unpopular and weakened president in the political center.

“People don't like what has been happening,” said Cynthia Justine, a 44-year-old voter in Paris. “People feel they've lost a lot in recent years. People are angry. I am angry.”

She added that with “the rising hate speech,” it was necessary for people to express their frustrations with those holding and seeking power and cast their ballots.

“It is important for me because I am a woman and we haven't always had the right to vote," Justin said. “Because I am a Black woman, it's even more important. A lot is at stake on this day.”

Pierre Leclaer, a 78-year-old retiree, said he cast his ballot for the simple reason of “trying to avoid the worst," which for him is "a government that is from the far right, populist, not liberal and not very Republican.”

Macron called the early election after his party was trounced in the European Parliament election earlier in June by the National Rally, which has historic ties to racism and antisemitism and is hostile toward France’s Muslim community. It was an audacious gamble that French voters who were complacent about the European Union election would be jolted into turning out for moderate forces in a national election to keep the far right out of power.

Instead, preelection polls suggest that the National Rally is gaining support and has a chance at winning a parliamentary majority. In that scenario, Macron would be expected to name 28-year-old National Rally President Jordan Bardella as prime minister in an awkward power-sharing system known as “cohabitation.”

In the restive French Pacific territory of New Caledonia, polls already closed at 5 p.m. local time due to an 8 p.m.-to-6 a.m. curfew that authorities on the archipelago have extended until July 8.

Nine people died during a two-week-long unrest in New Caledonia, where the Indigenous Kanak people have long sought to break free from France, which first took the Pacific territory in 1853. Violence flared on May 13 in response to attempts by Macron’s government to amend the French Constitution and change voting lists in New Caledonia, which Kanaks feared would further marginalize them.

Voters in France’s other overseas territories from Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon, Saint-Barthélemy, Saint-Martin, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Guyana, French Polynesia and those voting in offices opened by embassies and consular posts across the Americas cast their ballots on Saturday.

While Macron has said he won’t step down before his presidential term expires in 2027, cohabitation would weaken him at home and on the world stage.

The results of the first round will give a picture of overall voter sentiment, but not necessarily of the overall makeup of the next National Assembly. Predictions are extremely difficult because of the complicated voting system, and because parties will work between the two rounds to make alliances in some constituencies or pull out of others.

In the past such tactical maneuvers helped keep far-right candidates from power. But now support for Le Pen's party has spread deep and wide.

Bardella, who has no governing experience, says he would use the powers of prime minister to stop Macron from continuing to supply long-range weapons to Ukraine for the war with Russia. His party has historical ties to Russia.

The party has also questioned the right to citizenship for people born in France, and wants to curtail the rights of French citizens with dual nationality. Critics say this undermines fundamental human rights and is a threat to France's democratic ideals.

Meanwhile, huge public spending promises by the National Rally and especially the left-wing coalition have shaken markets and ignited worries about France's heavy debt, already criticized by EU watchdogs.

Surk contributed from Nice, France.

Follow AP's coverage of elections at https://apnews.com/hub/global-elections

A woman walks past campaign boards for the upcoming parliamentary elections in Paris, Thursday June 27, 2024. Voters will choose lawmakers for the National Assembly in two rounds on June 30 and July 7. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

People gather on the Republique Plaza during a rally in Paris, Thursday June 27, 2024. Anti-racism groups joined French unions and left-wing coalition in protests against the surging nationalist far right as French President Emmanuel Macron called snap elections following the defeat of his centrist alliance at European Union elections earlier this month. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

FILE - Jordan Bardella, president of the far-right National Front party, arrives at the Eurosatory Defense and security exhibition, Wednesday, June 19, 2024 in Villepinte, north of Paris. The perspective of a defeat in parliamentary elections mean he may have to share power with a prime minister from rival political party — that could possibly be far-right National Rally's president Jordan Bardella. Macron defeated twice the National Rally's leader Marine Le Pen in the presidential election, both in 2017 and 2022.( AP Photo/Michel Euler, File)

FILE - French President Emmanuel Macron, right, meets French far-right Rassemblement National (National Rally) leader Marine Le Pen at the Elysee Palace on June 21, 2022 in Paris. The perspective of a defeat in parliamentary elections mean he may have to share power with a prime minister from rival political party — that could possibly be far-right National Rally's president Jordan Bardella. Macron defeated twice the National Rally's leader Marine Le Pen in the presidential election, both in 2017 and 2022. (Ludovic Marin/Pool photo via AP, File)