Just in case Weston Wilson needed a reminder on the hit he needed to complete the cycle in the bottom of the eighth on Thursday — Phillies fans chanted “double, double” for his at-bat as a noisy cue — Bryce Harper offered a helpful tip.
“Harper was at the top stop letting me know,” Wilson said, laughing. “If you hit it, keep running. Don’t stop until second.”
With the Phillies ahead in a rout, Wilson lined a shot to right field that was nearly caught by Washington right fielder Alex Call. Call fell short on a diving attempt, the ball smacked off his glove and rolled toward center, giving Wilson the opening he needed to take up Harper on his advice.
Photo: AFP
Wilson hustled to second base, becoming the first rookie to hit for the cycle in Philadelphia Phillies history.
Wilson’s teammates went wild in the dugout and slapped the railing — former Phillie John Kruk gave him a standing ovation from his spot in the stands where he called the game — and fans who stuck around in a 13-3 win were rewarded as witnesses to a slice of history.
“I thought it was more in the gap,” Wilson said. “I saw him closing in and I was like: ‘You’ve got to be kidding.’ I saw it trickle out and, fortunately, he didn’t catch it.”
Photo: AFP
With his pregnant wife cheering him on from the stands — they are expecting a boy on Sept. 1 — Wilson tripled and singled in the fourth; homered in the seventh and became the ninth Phillies player to hit for the cycle.
Wilson had the 10th cycle in Phillies history — Chuck Klein did it twice — and became the first home player to accomplish the feat at Citizens Bank Park since David Bell in 2004. He was the first Phillies player to hit for the cycle since catcher J.T. Realmuto last year.
Batting eighth in the lineup, Wilson joined a full-cycle club in the big leagues already this season: Texas Rangers outfielder Wyatt Langford, Houston Astros designated hitter Yordan Alvarez and Miami Marlins infielder Xavier Edwards all accomplished the feat.
The 29-year-old Wilson started in left field against Nationals lefty Mitchell Parker, a sign that manager Rob Thomson is comfortable giving the outfielder more at-bats against lefties than outfielder Brandon Marsh.
With more games like this one, Wilson should earn plenty of playing time for the National League East leaders.
“He can run the bases, he can steal a base. He’s got a lot of qualities,” Thomson said.
Elsewhere on Thursday, it was:
‧ Brewers 6, Dodgers 4
‧ Giants 6, Braves 0
‧ Mets 6, Athletics 7
‧ Orioles 5, Red Sox 1
‧ Rangers 2, Twins 3
‧ Tigers 2, Mariners 1
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
The Minnesota Timberwolves, with so many promising performances spoiled by late mistakes fresh in their memory bank, sure timed this strong finish well. Jaden McDaniels scored a career playoff-high 30 points and spearheaded Minnesota’s stifling defense on an ailing Luka Doncic, and the Timberwolves beat the Los Angeles Lakers 116-104 to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Friday night. “Jaden never looks tired. He looks like he could play 48 minutes,” said teammate Anthony Edwards, who had 29 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Julius Randle added 22 points for the Wolves, who outscored
Inter’s defense of their Italian Serie A title was hit with a setback on Sunday as they lost 1-0 at home to AS Roma, while Scott McTominay netted a brace as SSC Napoli beat Torino 2-0 to go top of the table. No fixtures were played on Friday or Saturday because of the funeral of Pope Francis in Rome, meaning the full round of Serie A matches took place on Sunday and yesterday. Matias Soule’s first-half strike for Roma knocked Inter off top spot earlier in the day before new Napoli opened up a three-point buffer with victory in Sunday’s
Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa yesterday set a women’s only world record of 2 hours, 15 minutes, 50 seconds as she won the London Marathon, while Kenya’s Sabastian Sawe put a star-studded men’s field to the sword. For 28-year-old Assefa it was ample compensation for finishing runner-up in London and the Paris Olympics last year — especially as bitter Dutch rival, the Ethiopia-born Sifan Hassan, finished third. Assefa dropped Kenya’s Joyciline Jepkosgei as the race, played out in blazing sunshine and with thousands lining the route, entered its business end. She came home almost three minutes clear of the Kenyan. Hassan, who beat her in
RSS