Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
PHILADELPHIA – Bryce Harper was standing on the top step of the Phillies dugout during the eighth inning of what would be a 13-3 win for the Phillies over the Washington Nationals.
He was there to give Weston Wilson some advice.
“He let me know, ‘If you hit it, keep running. Don’t stop until second (base),’” Wilson said.
Everyone was aware. Wilson. His teammates. His manager. The sellout crowd at Citizens Bank Park. Everyone.
Wilson was on the brink of history.
And as some sections of the crowd started chanting for a double, Wilson heard them too. But he just wanted to center himself, stay with what he was doing – it had been working after all – and take a swing at putting his name in the Phillies record books.
And so, when he drove the ball to right centerfield, and he saw Nationals outfielder Alex Call closing in fast, for a brief moment, he thought his moment was going to be thwarted at the last possible second.
“He’s robbed me plenty of times in the minor leagues,” Wilson said of Call. “I’ve played against him a lot and he’s a great outfielder. I thought it was more in the gap and then I saw him closing in and I was like, ‘You got to be kidding me.’ But then I saw it trickle out. Fortunately, he didn’t catch it.”
And with that, Wilson became just the ninth Phillie – and the first Phillies rookie – to ever hit for the cycle.
It was the tenth time ever (Hall of Famer Chuck Klein did it twice) and the first by a Phillie since J.T. Realmuto did it in Arizona in June 2023. It was only the fifth time it’s happened in the last 91 years.
And it finally snapped a 20-year drought at Citizens Bank Park. David Bell hit a cycle for the Phillies in June 2004, the first year of the ballpark’s existence. No Phillie had been able to repeat the feat – until Wilson on Thursday.
It was the fourth cycle in baseball this season – Miami’s Xaver Edwards was the most recent to do it, in July. He’s the second rookie to do it in Major League Baseball this season. Wyatt Langford of Texas also hit for the cycle.
It wasn’t certain he would have an opportunity to get there.
Wilson struck out in his first at bat, but then a chance to bat twice in the fourth inning. He led off the inning with a triple to right field, on a ball that kicked off the wall and bounced back past Call and toward the infield.
It was the first triple of his major league career and first this season including his time in the minor leagues.
Later in the inning, he fisted a half pop up toward second base, and it landed at the feet of Luis Garcia Jr., who couldn’t make a play on Wilson.
The homer came in the seventh inning, an opposite field moon shot that extended the Phillies lead to 11-3.
But the homer happened with one out. The Phillies needed to get all the way back around to Wilson to give him an opportunity to make history – and they only had five outs left.
“In my mind, I’m trying to get people off their feet and get some guys some at bats,” Thomson said of what he was thinking after the homer. “He wasn’t going to be one of them because I knew of the possible potential to get that extra at bat and hit for the cycle.”
It didn’t look good after Johan Rojas popped out in the very next at bat, but then Kyle Schwarber walked, Trea Turner hit a single and then Jacob Young dropped a fly ball off the bat of Bryce Harper for an error to extend the inning.
When Alec Bohm was hit by a pitch on the next at bat, it seemed as if the stars were aligning for Wilson.
“Some things had to work out for me to get back up,” Wilson said. They sure did.
Wilson got to be the star of the game afterwards, meaning he was doused by a water bucket by Phillies pranksters Bryson Stott and Brandon Marsh. It was the first time he got that baptism.
Many people felt like he was going to be that guy in his first major league game in August 2023, because he hit a homer in his first career game. But it happened to be on another special night at the ballpark.
“Lorenzen won it that day,” Wilson said with a laugh, referring to Michael Lorenzen’s no-hitter. Ironically, both games occurred in August against the Nationals.
“It was very cool,” Wilson said. “I’ve seen it. I’ve seen it a lot of times on videos. I’m just very grateful to have a team like we do and to be able to share that with everybody else. They were so happy, and it was so cool to see.”
THE OTHER GUYS
Wilson was the story of the night, but the Phillies did score 13 runs, so guys not named Wilson also had to have a good night.
Every player in the starting lineup had at least one hit and the Phillies jumped all over Washington in the first inning.
Bohm and Nick Castellanos hit back-to-back homers to give the Phillies an early 4-0 lead in support of Zack Wheeler (12-5), who pitched six innings and allowed just two runs, one earned, on just three hits.
It was the first time the Phillies didn’t fall behind in the first inning in seven games.
Turner, who was back in the lineup after having a seat on the bench on Wednesday, had three hits and a pair of RBI. Rojas had two hits and three RBI Harper had two hits and Castellanos also had two hits while driving in two.
“Our bats were really good, especially early in the game,” Thomson said. “When Bohm hit that home run, I think everybody exhaled a little bit and then Casty follows it up back-to-back.”
Bohm has now reached base in 32 consecutive games. It’s the longest by a Phillie since Chase Utley had a 36-game streak in 2006. The Phillies record is 56 games, set by Mike Schmidt in 1981.
The MLB record?
Ted Williams – 84 straight games in 1949. Bohm would have to keep getting on base into next season to eclipse that.
ON DECK
The Phillies and Nationals do battle again on Friday night in the second game of a four-game series. RHP Aaron Nola (11-6, 3.60 ERA) goes for the Phillies against LHP Patrick Corbin (2-12, 5.98) for Washington.
