PHILADELPHIA -- Dalton Guthrie flew from Norfolk, Va., to Detroit to San Francisco on Sunday.

The Phillies summoned him from Triple-A Lehigh Valley because they needed an outfielder following an injury to Nick Castellanos. Guthrie’s flight from Detroit was delayed because they had nobody to fly the plane. He arrived at Oracle Park just nine minutes before Giants left-hander Carlos Rodón threw his first pitch to Kyle Schwarber. Guthrie put on his uniform, introduced himself to interim manager Rob Thomson in the dugout and watched the game from the bench. He did not play, but he hopped on the team’s return flight to Philadelphia.

It was an awesome day anyway.

Five days later, Guthrie picked up the first two hits and the first two RBIs of his big league career in Friday night’s 5-3 victory over the Nationals at Citizens Bank Park.

“It was pretty cool,” Guthrie said. “Hopefully you get the first one out of the way and they come.”

Guthrie was one of a handful of key contributors in Friday’s victory, which extended the Phillies’ lead to 3 1/2 games over the Brewers for the third NL Wild Card spot with 24 games to play. Philadelphia owns the season tiebreaker against Milwaukee, so the lead is effectively 4 1/2 games. The Phillies remained a half-game behind the Padres for the second NL Wild Card.

Noah Syndergaard allowed three runs in six-plus innings. Andrew Bellatti, José Alvarado, Brad Hand and Nick Nelson pitched three scoreless innings in relief. Nelson got the final out in the ninth to record the first save of his career.

“It was awesome,” Nelson said.

Rhys Hoskins snapped a homerless drought of 92 plate appearances, which was the second-longest single-season homerless drought of his career. J.T. Realmuto had another big night, going 3-for-3 with a home run. Edmundo Sosa tripled and singled in his first two plate appearances. According to Elias Sports Bureau, Sosa is just the fourth Phillies player in the expansion era (since 1961) to have reached base safely in 11 consecutive plate appearances in games started, joining Jayson Werth in 2009, Ryan Howard in 2006 and Clay Dalrymple in 1961.

Sosa tripled with one out in the third. Guthrie followed with a single to right to give Philadelphia a 1-0 lead. The rookie singled to score an insurance run in the seventh, too.

Guthrie got the ball from his first hit. He said he will give it to his parents, who were in the stands. Mark Guthrie pitched 15 seasons in the big leagues, including one with the 1991 World Series champion Twins. Mom and Dad wondered if they should fly to San Francisco on Sunday, but Guthrie told them that he wasn’t even sure if he would make it there.

They flew instead to Philadelphia for their son’s debut on Tuesday. He went 0-for-3.

They debated whether they should stick around a few more days. They are glad they did.

“He was excited,” Guthrie said, when asked Tuesday about how his father took the news of his promotion. “He might have been more excited than I was, honestly. But he’s been with me for every single at-bat. He was super pumped.”

The Phillies selected Guthrie in the sixth round of the 2017 MLB Draft. He struggled early. He lost a year of development in 2020 because of the pandemic. He moved from the infield to the outfield in 2021. He adjusted his swing.

“I’ve always tried to be open with anything,” he said. “One day a couple years ago, I brought up catching to them and they shot that down quick. But anything they want me to do, I’ll do it. It’s a fun little challenge. It keeps it fresh. I’m still learning out there, but I’ve made some progress and I’ll go anywhere they put me in that lineup.”

Guthrie really wasn’t on the Phillies’ radar this spring. He appeared in three Grapefruit League games and got three at-bats. But he played well this season with the IronPigs, batting .302 with 10 homers, 52 RBIs and an .839 OPS.

He earned his promotion.

“I think you wonder that until the day it does happen,” Guthrie said about making the big leagues. “You never really know. You hope you do, but [you] just try to grind every day. Whatever happens, happens. It’s cool it did happen, now it’s time to go.”