Harper went deep off Giants rookie Mason Black, spoiling the major league debut of the right-hander, who pitched into the fifth inning against the team he grew up rooting for.
“I hope he enjoyed it with his family and his teammates and everything else, because you only get one debut,” Harper said.
This season’s Phillies are winning as much as the teams Black cheered for as a kid.
The major-league-leading Phillies (25-11) won their sixth straight and have won 10 of 11 and 17 of 20 to open a three-game lead over Atlanta in the NL East. It’s the team’s best 36-game start to a season since 1993, when Philadelphia won 97 games and reached the World Series, according to ESPN Stats & Information research.
The Phillies have also won 10 straight games at Citizens Bank Park, just two wins shy of matching the team record set in 2012. Philadelphia also set a franchise record with 11 straight wins against NL West opponents.
“I feel like we’re winning in different ways every night. And it’s a different player coming up huge, whether it’s a hitter, a pitcher. It’s never the same guy, which is nice,” catcher J.T. Realmuto said. “There’s not too much pressure on one player. We all feel like we play really well together and we have a lot of fun, and guys contribute on a nightly basis.”
Harper homered for the second straight game, and his eighth of the season made it 4-0 against Black (0-1). Black made his major league debut in front of his parents, younger brother, girlfriend and scores of friends and relatives who made the trip to watch him pitch against his boyhood favorite team.
The 24-year-old Black — named the seventh-best prospect in baseball, per MLB.com — was the Giants’ third-round pick in the 2021 draft out of Lehigh University. Black recorded a 1-2-3 first inning that included strikeouts of Realmuto and Harper, the latter caught looking at an 88 mph changeup.
Black gave up 8 hits, 5 runs and 3 walks. He struck out four in 4⅓ innings.
Wheeler (4-3) showed the rookie how it was done. He rebounded from an 0-3 start — he allowed six runs total in his first three starts — to win his fourth straight start. Wheeler allowed one run, walked one and lowered his ERA to 1.64.
“Wheels today did what Zack kind of does every time he goes out there. It was fun to watch and kept us in the game,” Harper said.
Matt Strahm tossed a scoreless eighth, and Orion Kerkering pitched the ninth to complete the five-hitter.
With shortstop Trea Turner out at least six weeks with a left hamstring strain, his replacements are starting to fill the void. Bryson Stott moved from second base to shortstop and made a great grab on a grounder by Wilmer Flores in the first to start an inning-ending double play. Whit Merrifield started at second and gave the Phillies a 1-0 lead with an RBI single in the fourth.
Harper had a three-run shot in the fifth, and Nick Castellanos, who hit 37 doubles last season, hit his first one of the year later in the inning for a 5-0 lead.
Phillies third baseman Alec Bohm went 0-for-4, ending his hitting streak at 18 games.
LEBANON, Tenn. — Brad Keselowski said RFK Racing has made some small changes and talked about the “complexities” and team burdens under the NASCAR rulebook after an appeal reduced a penalty given to driver Chris Buescher and his team at Kansas Speedway.
Keselowski compared the NASCAR rulebook a bit to the IRS tax code during practice and qualifying Saturday at Nashville Superspeedway for Sunday night’s Cracker Barrel 400.
“You read this paper and then you got to reference this paper to reference this paper to reference this paper, and when your head’s down and digging and you’re running 38 weeks a year, oversights are going to happen,” Keselowski said.
The co-owner of RFK Racing said that’s not an excuse. Keselowski said the team changed some roles and responsibilities this week to help the team be “better prepared and more mindful of what it takes to to be in compliance.”
NASCAR penalized Buescher and his team May 15 for illegal modifications to the bumper of his No. 17 Ford at Kansas. The team was docked 60 driver points, 60 owner points, five driver playoff points and five owner playoff points for the level one violation. It also fined the team $75,000 and suspended crew chief Scott Graves from the next two races: the All-Star Race and the Coca-Cola 600.
Those penalties came three days after Buescher finished eighth at Kansas and dropped him from 12th to 24th in the Cup Series point standings.
RFK Racing appealed and had a partial win Wednesday with the appeals panel ruling the team violated the rule on the front bumper cover but not the exhaust cover panel.
Buescher got back 30 points, moving him to 16th in the Cup Series points standing. That’s a slot below the playoff cutline and six points behind RFK Racing teammate Ryan Preece.
SEWELL, N.J. — A few days after brothers John and Matthew Gaudreau died when they were struck by a driver while riding bicycles on the eve of their sister Katie’s wedding, family friends were visiting parents Guy and Jane at their home during a rainstorm. Looking outside after the skies cleared, they saw a double rainbow that brought them some momentary peace.
Since then, Jane Gaudreau had not gotten any signs she attributed to her sons, so she sat in their room Friday and asked them for some divine intervention to clear out bad weather in time for an event to honor their legacies. After a brief scare of a tornado watch the night before, a rainbow appeared Saturday morning about an hour before the sun came out for the inaugural Gaudreau Family 5K Walk/Run and Family Day.
“I was so relieved,” Jane said. “I was like, ‘Well, there’s my sign.'”
Thousands attended the event at Washington Lake Park in southern New Jersey, a place John and Matthew went hundreds of times as kids and around the corner from Hollydell Ice Arena, where they started playing hockey. Roughly 1,100 people took part in a walk or run in person, along with more than 1,300 virtually in the U.S., Canada and around the world.
“I think it speaks to them as a family, how close they were and how everybody loved being around them,” said Ottawa Senators captain Brady Tkachuk, one of a handful of NHL players who were close to the Gaudreaus and made a point to be there. “You just see the support from this community and from other players as well that are here and traveled in. It just says a lot about Johnny, Matty, their legacy and this family as a whole, how much support they have because they’re such amazing people.”
Along with honoring the NHL star known as “Johnny Hockey” and his younger brother who family and friends called Matty, the goal of the event was to raise money for an accessible playground at Archbishop Damiano School where Jane and her daughter Kristen work. It was a cause John and Matthew had begun to champion in honor of their grandmother Marie, who spent 44 years at the school and died in 2023.
It became their mother’s project after their deaths.
“Jane works every day with children with disabilities, and she knew how important it was for the playground to be built,” said family friend Deb Vasutoro, who came up with the idea for a 5K. “The playground has been a project for, I think, four or five years, and there just never was enough funding. When the boys passed and Jane needed a purpose, she thought, ‘Let’s build the playground.’ It was the perfect marriage of doing something good to honor the boys and seeing children laugh and smile.”
The Rev. Allain Caparas from Gloucester Catholic High School, which the brothers attended and played hockey for while growing up in Carneys Point, said raising funds for the playground is an extension of the impact they had on the community.
“They’re continuing to make a difference in the lives of so many others,” Caparas said. “Johnny and Matthew lived their lives with purpose, and now we’re celebrating that.”
Social media filled with mentions from folks in Columbus and Calgary, the NHL cities in which John Gaudreau played, and as far away as Ireland and Sweden. Paul O’Connor, who has been tight with the Gaudreau family from son Dalton being childhood best friends with Matthew, couldn’t empty out his inbox because he kept getting notifications about signups and donations.
“It just keeps growing,” O’Connor said. “And people that couldn’t be here, they’re doing a virtual [5K]. If they can’t do either, they’re just throwing money at the cause.”
Tears welled up in the eyes of Guy and Jane as they talked about the event. His speech to the crowd was brief and poignant at the same time.
“I’d like to thank everybody for coming,” Guy said after running the 5K. “It really means a lot to Jane and the girls and the family. We miss the boys, and it really means a lot for us to have you here to honor my boys. Thank you.”
The sea of people first in the rain and then the sunshine included folks in gear from all across hockey. Tkachuk wore a “Johnny Hockey” hoodie with Gaudreau’s name and No. 13 on the back.
He handed sticks, collected from various vigils in late August and early September, to race winners along with fellow players Erik Gudbranson, Zach Aston-Reese, Tony DeAngelo and Buddy Robinson.
“Our family wouldn’t have missed this,” Gudbranson said after flying in Friday night following a trip to Walt Disney World. “Hockey’s a very tight community. It’s still a tragedy. We miss the boys.”
The aim is to hold the event annually moving forward, potentially in Calgary and Columbus.
“We thought this was such a good thing to honor the boys we want to keep it up,” Jane said. “I just think each year it’ll just get better and better.”
Panthers forward A.J. Greer‘s status for the series opener against the Oilers remains uncertain. He missed Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals and was on the ice for only 4:22 in Game 5 due to a lower-body injury.
All three players did not participate in Saturday’s practice, the first team skate since the defending champions booked their spot in the Final rematch.
“I think the only question mark is Greer,” Maurice said. “We will list him as day to day. The other guys are fine. They will be back on the ice tomorrow when we do a little bit of an optional.”
Luostarinen, 26, recorded 24 points (9 goals, 15 assists) in 80 games during the regular season and 13 points (4 goals, 9 assists) in 17 games this postseason.
Lundell, 23, tallied 45 points (17 goals, 28 assists) in 79 games in the regular season and 12 points (5 goals, 7 assists) in 17 playoff games.
Greer, 28, posted 17 points (6 goals, 11 assists) in 81 games in the regular season and three points (2 goals, 1 assist) in 12 playoff contests.