Bryce Harper hit a home run on Saturday night at Truist Park where nobody hits home runs.

He crushed a first-pitch fastball from Braves left-hander Robbie Erlin a projected 470 feet into the right-center-field stands for a two-run home run in a 6-5 loss. It is the second-longest home run in Truist Park history. Giancarlo Stanton is the only player to hit one further (477 feet on Aug. 4, 2017), as well as the only player to hit one longer than Harper in 2020 (483 feet on July 25).

Harper’s blast came on his son Krew’s first birthday. Harper wore custom “The Incredibles” cleats and a “The Incredibles” T-shirt underneath his jersey because his son is a fan.

“It’s so cool to hit the first homer in the first inning and you run around the bases and say, 'Man, I actually did it for his birthday,'” Harper said. “Of course, he’s not going to have any clue what I did or even remember, but it was definitely a cool moment. That’s my little guy, man. I love him so much.”

Harper’s homer is his longest with the Phillies and his second-longest since Statcast started to track them in 2015. He hit one 473 feet against former Phillies right-hander Nick Pivetta on May 4, 2018. The only Phillies player to hit one further since Statcast’s debut is Maikel Franco, who hit one 471 feet on July 10, 2016, at Coors Field.

But who cares about distance, right?

How is Harper producing?

It is a small sample size, but Harper entered the night batting .343 (24 for 70) with three doubles, one triple, seven home runs, 19 RBIs and a 1.197 OPS. His batting average, on-base percentage (.478), slugging percentage (.714), OPS and OPS+ (208, entering the game) are the best marks of his career.

Harper is not hitting the ball harder than in the past. His average exit velocity (90.0 mph, entering the game) is in line with his career average (90.8 mph). His hard-hit rate (42.9 percent) is in line with his career average (43.4 percent). His walk rate (17.4 percent) is just a bit higher than his career average (16.8 percent).

The biggest difference is that Harper is swinging and missing less and putting the ball in play more. His strikeout rate (15.1 percent) is down markedly from his career average (21.8 percent). MLB.com’s Mike Petriello found that it is the third-largest decline of anyone who had 400 plate appearances last season and 50 or more plate appearances this year. Harper also is being more aggressive early in the count and swinging and missing at fewer breaking balls because he is chasing fewer of them outside the zone.

Putting the ball in play more frequently and hitting the ball as hard as Harper does is a recipe for tremendous success.

“I’m never satisfied with what I do,” Harper said. “When I’m not swinging at bad pitches, when I’m not swinging at pitches out of the zone, that’s when I’m at my best. The more and more I get better at that, the more and more I lay off those type of pitches, I’m going to get stuff, hopefully over the heart of the plate. And when they don’t want to do it, I need to walk and get on base for the guys behind me and steal bags, go first to third and things like that. Just try to press that reset button every single day, if I have a good day or a bad day.”

Harper walked in the third and fifth innings Saturday. The walk in the fifth led to J.T. Realmuto’s run-scoring single to make it 3-0. Harper’s sacrifice fly to left field in the ninth allowed pinch-hitter Neil Walker to score the game-tying run before the Braves walked it off in the bottom of the inning.