Harper and Wheeler lead Phillies to 5-1 victory over Brewers

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Bryce Harper hit a tiebreaking two-run homer in the sixth inning to back up the strong pitching of Zack Wheeler and the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Milwaukee Brewers 5-1 on Tuesday night in a matchup of division leaders.

Nick Castellanos added a solo shot and Trea Turner went 3 for 5 to help the Phillies move closer to wrapping up the NL East title while delaying the Brewers’ NL Central championship celebration.

The Brewers’ magic number dropped to one with the Chicago Cubs’ 4-3 loss to the Oakland Athletics. The Phillies lowered their magic number for clinching the NL East to four, though their magic number merely to reach the postseason is down to one.

Philadelphia's victory Tuesday gave the Phillies (91-60) the tiebreaker advantage over the Brewers (87-64) as they jockey for potential playoff seeding.

“We needed a win here for sure,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. “We'll try and win the series tomorrow, but just getting the tiebreaker over these guys I think is going to be huge coming down the stretch.”

Wheeler (16-6) allowed only four hits and one run in seven innings while striking out six and walking none. Wheeler, who lowered his ERA to 2.56, has worked at least six innings while giving up no more than two runs in each of his last nine starts.

“I just try to go six or seven every time, at least that,” Wheeler said. “If I go more, that's awesome. Try to do that, save our bullpen. It adds up over the season, where they get those innings saved in the bullpen. We need them for this stretch right now.”

Wheeler's 16 wins rank him second in the NL to Atlanta's Chris Sale, Wheeler's main competition for the Cy Young Award.

“He's the Cy Young, man," Harper said. “I said it out there. I don't think anyone in baseball is better than him at this point. I don't think anybody in the National League is, either. People down in Atlanta probably think the same thing about the guy throwing down there. I thought he got robbed of it three years ago (when Wheeler finished second to Corbin Burnes). I believe he earned it this year.”

The score was tied at 1-all until Harper sent a 1-1 pitch from Frankie Montas over the wall in left-center for his 29th homer of the season. Harper’s two-run shot also scored Kyle Schwarber, who led off with an infield single.

Montas (7-11) struck out 10 batters in 5 2/3 innings while allowing three runs, six hits and two walks.

Philadelphia extended the lead to 4-1 in the seventh as Schwarber hit a ball that went off a leg of pitcher Aaron Ashby and headed into shallow right field for an RBI single after Edmundo Sosa's leadoff double.

Turner added a two-out RBI single in the ninth.

“They’ve got two of the best power hitters in the game and a couple of other guys who are among the top hitters in the game, so you can’t give them anything," Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. "You have to keep the pressure on, and we couldn’t do that.”

Castellanos led off the second inning with a 430-foot drive over the wall in left-center for his 21st homer of the season. The Phillies put runners on first and second later in the second before Montas struck out Cal Stevenson to end the inning.

The Brewers tied it in the fourth, as William Contreras singled and scored on Garrett Mitchell’s triple to right center, but the Brewers stranded Mitchell at third.

TRAINER'S ROOM

The Phillies reinstated Sosa from the 10-day injured list and optioned IF Buddy Kennedy to Triple-A Lehigh Valley. In another move, the Phillies sent C Aramis Garcia outright to Lehigh Valley after he cleared waivers. Garcia had been designated for assigment Sunday.

Manager Rob Thomson said OF Austin Hays ran at full intensity Tuesday for the first time since going on the injured list with a kidney infection on Sept. 5. Thomson said the infection has gone away.

UP NEXT

RHP Aaron Nola (12-8, 3.62 ERA) pitches for the Phillies and RHP Freddy Peralta (11-8, 3.75) starts for the Brewers when this three-game series concludes Wednesday night.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB

Philadelphia Phillies' Bryce Harper is congratulated by Nick Castellanos after hitting a two-run homr run during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

Milwaukee Brewers' William Contreras hits a single during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

Philadelphia Phillies' Kyle Schwarber hits an RBI single during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Matt Strahm throws during the eighth inning of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

Milwaukee Brewers' Garrett Mitchell reacts after hitting an RBI triple during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

Milwaukee Brewers' Garrett Mitchell hits an RBI triple during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

Milwaukee Brewers' Jackson Chourio hits a single during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Zack Wheeler throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

Philadelphia Phillies' Bryce Harper reacts after hitting a two-run homr run during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

Philadelphia Phillies' Bryce Harper hits a two-run homr run during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

LITHIA, Fla. (AP) — Florida residents slogged through flooded streets, gathered up scattered debris and assessed damage to their homes on Friday after Hurricane Milton smashed through coastal communities and spawned a barrage of deadly tornadoes.

At least nine people were dead, but many expressed relief that Milton wasn’t worse. The hurricane spared densely populated Tampa a direct hit, and the lethal storm surge that scientists feared never materialized. Gov. Ron DeSantis warned people to not let down their guard, however, citing ongoing safety threats including downed power lines and standing water that could hide dangerous objects.

“We’re now in the period where you have fatalities that are preventable,” DeSantis said Friday. “You have to make the proper decisions and know that there are hazards out there."

Arriving just two weeks after the devastating Hurricane Helene, Milton flooded barrier islands, tore the roof off the Tampa Bay Rays ' baseball stadium and toppled a construction crane.

As homeowners assessed damage to their property, about 2.2 million customers in Florida remained without power Friday morning, according to poweroutage.us. The 260,000 people in St. Petersburg were told to boil water before drinking, cooking or brushing their teeth, until at least Monday.

The state’s vital tourism industry started to return to normal, meanwhile, with several theme parks preparing to reopen. The state's busiest airport was also scheduled to fully reopen Friday.

Warnings were heeded and lessons learned. When 8 feet (2.4 meters) of seawater flooded Punta Gorda during Hurricane Helene last month, 121 people had to be rescued, Mayor Lynne Matthews said. Milton brought at least 5 feet (1.5 meters) of flooding, but rescuers only had to save three people.

“So people listened to the evacuation order,” Matthews said.

The flooding from Milton's heavy rains was still causing problems in other areas, however.

Crews from the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office were assisting with rescues of people, including a 92-year-old woman, who were stranded in rising waters along the Alafia River on Friday morning. The river is 25 miles (40 kilometers) long and runs from eastern Hillsborough County, east of Tampa, into Tampa Bay.

Animals were being saved, too. Cindy Evers helped rescue a large pig stuck in high water Friday at a strip mall in Lithia east of Tampa. She had already rescued a donkey and several goats after the storm.

“I’m high and dry where I’m at and I have a barn and 9 acres,” said Evers, adding she will soon start to work to find the animals’ owners.

In Riverview, named because of its proximity to the Alafia River, a small bridge over a creek washed out, blocking Canadian Del Ockey from the home where he spends the six coldest months of the year.

Two planks over the now trickling creek are the only way he can get to his house. He rented a car and parked it on the other side, making a run Friday morning to get gas and fix a chain saw that broke as he was cutting down fallen trees around his home.

Ockey said he's used to hurricanes, having built his house 26 years ago, but Milton was different.

“We’ve had seven or eight of them come before, but nothing like this one. This was big-time,” Ockey said.

Before noon on Friday, cars with residents returning to evacuated homes in southwest Florida crept along in a slow-moving line of traffic across Interstate 75, also known as Alligator Alley. Many had evacuated to the state’s Atlantic Coast near Fort Lauderdale and Miami. On Thursday evening, bucket trucks, fuel tankers, portable bathroom trailers and a convoy of emergency vehicles streamed toward the hardest-hit areas.

Finding gas was still a challenge. Fuel stations were still closed as far away as Ocala, more than a two and a half hour drive north of where the storm made landfall as a Category 3 near Siesta Key in Sarasota County on Wednesday night.

As residents rushed back to their homes to assess the damages, tourists who had come for a vacation found that Florida theme parks including Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando and SeaWorld had reopened Friday.

Orlando International Airport, the state’s busiest, said departures for domestic flights and international flights would resume Friday, after resuming domestic arrivals Thursday evening. The airport had minor damage, including a few leaks and downed trees. Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Myers also reopened Friday.

MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa and Patrick Space Force Base near Cocoa Beach remain closed, with only authorized personnel allowed on the bases. MacDill, home to U.S. Central Command and Special Operations Command, experienced some damage and flooding, Air Force officials said. Patrick was spared any significant damage.

In Clearwater, Jelvin Glenn said it took less than an hour early Thursday for water to rise to his waist inside his apartment. He and seven kids, ranging in age from 3 to 16, were trapped in the brown, foul floodwaters for about three hours before an upstairs neighbor opened their home to them.

Later Thursday, first responders arrived in boats to ferry them away from the building.

“Sitting in that cold nasty water was kind of bad," Glenn said.

Short-term survival is now turning into long-term worries. A hotel is $160 a night. Everything inside Glenn's apartment is gone. And it can take time to get assistance.

“I ain't going to say we’re homeless," Glenn said. "But we’ve got to start all over again.”

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has enough money to deal with the immediate needs of people impacted by Hurricanes Helene and Milton but will need additional funding at some point, FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell said Friday.

The disaster assistance fund helps pay for the swift response to hurricanes, floods, earthquakes and other disasters across the U.S. Congress recently replenished the fund with $20 billion — the same amount as last year.

Farrington reported from St. Petersburg, Florida. Associated Press journalists Terry Spencer outside of Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Stephany Matat in Fort Pierce, Florida; Freida Frisaro in Fort Lauderdale; Lolita Baldor in Washington; and Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina; contributed to this report.

A large pine tree is shown snapped in half outside a flooded home along the Alafia river Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, in Lithia, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

A pair of chickens and a turkey take refuge on a flooded home caused by Hurricane Milton along the Alafia river Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, in Lithia, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

A box truck sits in floodwaters caused by Hurricane Milton along the Alafia river Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, in Lithia, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

A flooded home, from Hurricane Milton is shown along the Alafia river Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, in Lithia, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

A flooded home, from the effects of Hurricane Milton is shown along the Alafia river Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, in Lithia, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

Hillsborough County Sheriff's Master Deputy Robert Unger checks out flooded home from the effects of Hurricane Milton along the Alafia river Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, in Lithia, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

A truck from the Florida National Guard goes out to help residents trapped in their homes as waters rise after Hurricane Milton caused the Anclote River to flood, Friday, Oct. 12, 2024, in New Port Richey, Fla. (AP Photo/Mike Carlson)

A Spring Oaks resident checks out the rising floodwaters from the Little Wekiva River on Spring Oaks Blvd. in his neighborhood in Altamonte Springs, Fla., Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. Central Florida rivers are forecast to crest in the coming days because of the excessive rainfall from Hurricane Milton. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel via AP)

A home on Little Wekiva Road in the Spring Oaks neighborhood in Altamonte Springs, Fla is reflected in the floodwaters from the Little Wekiva River, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. Central Florida rivers are forecast to crest in the coming days because of the excessive rainfall from Hurricane Milton. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel via AP)

A linesman contractor for Duke Energy works on power lines along Forest City Road in Orlando. Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. As of Friday morning, 2.2 million Floridians were reported to still be without power. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel via AP)

Spring Oaks resident Earline Gonzales talks about the rising waters from the Little Wekiva River in her flooded neighborhood in Altamonte Springs, Fla., Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. Central Florida rivers are forecast to rise in the coming days because of the excessive rainfall from Hurricane Milton. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel via AP)

The damaged roof of Ron and Jean Dyer's beachfront condo at Bahia Vista Gulf is seen alongside the sand-swamped Jetty Villas, after the passage of Hurricane Milton, on the island of Venice, Fla., Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Hurricane Milton damage is seen to the beachfront condominium community of Bahia Vista Gulf, on the island of Venice, Fla., Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

A member of the Pasco County Sheriff's Office goes out to help residents trapped in their homes as waters rise after Hurricane Milton caused the Anclote River to flood, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, in New Port Richey, Fla. (AP Photo/Mike Carlson)

A bridge going over a small creek is seen damaged by Hurricane Milton, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, in Riverview, Fla. The road is the only access point into a community. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

A lifeguard hut is on its side after Hurricane Milton at Clearwater Beach, Fla., on Friday, Oct. 11, 2024 (AP Photo/Haven Daley)

Clean up continues at Clearwater Beach, Fla., after Hurricane Milton on Friday, Oct. 11, 2024 in (AP Photo/Haven Daley)

FILE - Neighborhoods with debris from tornadoes are visible in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton, Oct. 10, 2024, in Fort Pierce, Fla. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Public work employees remove sand that was pushed to the streets by wind and storm surge from Hurricane Milton, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, in Fort Myers Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)

Renel Prophet carries a chainsaw to get it repaired after it broke while cleaning out down trees in his property, which became unaccessible during Hurricane Milton, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, in Riverview, Fla. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Public work employees remove sand from the roadways, that was pushed to the streets by Hurricane Milton, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, in Fort Myers Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)

Del Ockey, a seasonal Florida resident from Canada, walks near the damaged bridge from Hurricane Milton, that leads onto his property, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, in Riverview, Fla. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Del Ockey, a seasonal Florida resident from Canada, walks near the damaged bridge to his property from Hurricane Milton, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, in Riverview, Fla. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

A man who identified himself as Jesse walks out through floodwaters of the Anclote River after Hurricane Milton hit the region, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024, in New Port Richey, Fla. (AP Photo/Mike Carlson)

A tree toppled by Hurricane Milton lies atop a stately home in Siesta Key, Fla., Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

A truck drives down a flooded street in Siesta Key, Fla., following the passage of Hurricane Milton, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

A broken sign and other debris lie alongside Gilligan's Island Bar & Grill after the passage of Hurricane Milton, in Siesta Key, Fla., Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

People from Sarasota, Fla., visit a familiar beach on Siesta Key, Fla., which they say was already decimated by Hurricane Helene, and lost feet more of sand coverage in Hurricane Milton, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

A car backs up after encountering deeper water on a flooded street in Siesta Key, Fla., following the passage of Hurricane Milton, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Natasha Ducre surveys the kitchen of her devastated home, which lost most of its roof during the passage of Hurricane Milton, in Palmetto, Fla., Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. Ducre, her husband, three children, and two grandkids rode out the storm in a government shelter and returned to find their home unlivable and much of their furniture and belongings destroyed by rainwater. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

A piece of debris is wrapped high around a tree in Siesta Key, Fla., following the passage of Hurricane Milton, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

A tree lies atop a stately home in Siesta Key, Fla., following the passage Hurricane Milton, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

A pick up drives past a guard gate on a flooded street in Siesta Key, Fla., following the passage Hurricane Milton, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Flood waters recede after Hurricane Milton, on streets where piles of debris from Hurricane Helene flooding, sit outside many homes, in Siesta Key, Fla., Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)