Phillies' 10th franchise cycle puts icing on the cake of massive blowout

The Phillies seemed to shake off the rust of their extended slump with their 9-5 win over the Miami Marlins on Wednesday. Starting a four-game series against the Washington Nationals on Thursday left a lot of opportunity to steer the ship ever further in the right direction.

The Phillies took a stranglehold on Washington in a hurry and ceased to relinquish any control. The 13-3 onslaught was a sight to behold. Every starter in the lineup earned a base hit as the team also slugged three home runs. Zack Wheeler was his usual dominant self (subscription required), going six innings with one earned run and six strikeouts for the win, per Lochlahn March of The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Weston Wilson hits Phillies' 10th franchise cycle, puts the icing on the cake of a massive blowout

There was one offensive output that rose above them all, and it came from none other than outfielder Weston Wilson. Thursday was just his 16th game of the season after splitting time between Triple-A and the majors. He had everything working for him on Thursday as he hit the 10th cycle in Phillies history, per MLB.com's Todd Zolecki.

Wilson recorded his first hit of the night in the bottom of the fourth inning off a 93 mph fastball, driving it off the right field wall, for a triple. The team batted around giving him a second opportunity to hit a ball off the knuckles to the second baseman for an infield single.

Three innings later, in the bottom of the seventh, Wilson took another first-pitch fastball and smacked it into the left field seats 371 feet away from home plate.

He only had a double left to go.

In the bottom of the eighth, with the Phillies up 11-3, the cycle watch was on. Was it crucial to the game? Absolutely not, but what a finish this game would have.

As the baseball gods would have it, after six pitches and three foul balls, Wilson got a hold of a fastball and hit a seed to the right field gap. Nationals right fielder Alex Call did everything he could, including diving for it, but the ball bounced off his glove and allowed Wilson to cruise into second base and greet the Phillies dugout with the biggest smile on his face.

Wilson becomes just the ninth Phillies player to complete the cycle (Chuck Klein did it twice) in the franchise's more than 140 years of existence.

The Phillies had the joy of breaking their 19-year cycle drought last June with J.T. Realmuto coming up with a double of his own to seal it in the Arizona desert. Now Weston Wilson gets to enjoy being a part of history and has a career highlight to look back on forever.