Derek Hill made an incredible catch to rob Juan Soto of a home run. (Brendan Baldwin/Phillies Nation)

NEW YORK — The legend of Derek Hill continues.

After hitting a pinch-hit go-ahead home run on Wednesday against the Nationals in the ninth inning and another on Thursday, Hill made an insane leaping catch over the right-center field wall to rob Juan Soto of a two-run home run.

“That,” starter Zack Wheeler said. “won the game right there.”

Wheeler took a moment to admire the catch with a big smile. Second baseman Bryson Stott mouthed the words, “Oh my.” Left fielder Edmundo Sosa clapped his hands above his head.

Wheeler gave Hill a hug in the dugout.

“It is the best one that I’ve seen in person,” Wheeler said. “Luckily, I was pitching, and I got that one.”

It was the difference in a 2-1 Phillies victory over the Mets. It was the first Phillies win over the Mets at Citi Field since September 20, 2024, the day they clinched a postseason berth for a third consecutive year.

“Honestly, I ain’t got much on that one,” Hill said after the game. “I just kind of blacked out on it. Just kind of pure instinct and whatnot, but I knew I had a chance because the wind was knocking things down today.”

Wheeler threw seven innings of one-run ball that could have been three if not Hill’s home-run robbing catch.

Hill has made quite the impact in just 15 days with the Phillies. Acquired on June 11 from the Chicago White Sox to play center and right field against left-handed pitching, Hill is on a seven-game hitting streak and has a .964 OPS in 28 at-bats.

“I’m gonna say it, playing in Philly, it’s not the easiest place to play,” Marsh said. “Especially as (Hill) saw from the White Sox a couple series ago. Him coming in and having that immediate impact, we needed that spark. We don’t come out of that Washington series without him or tonight without him.”

It’s early, but could Hill play his way into more at-bats in the outfield?

“We’re gonna stay with what we do,” interim manager Don Mattingly said. “Be consistent with that. His role is good. The one thing you don’t feel like you have to do is just get him out of there anytime they bring a righty into the game. That’s an advantage that you feel because that’s the tough part about platooning. When do you take a guy out? When do you take a shot? And he’s allowed us to not have to do that.”

Hill, a strong defensive outfielder, said he’s made a few catches over the wall in the minor leagues, but nothing compares to what he was able to pull off on Friday night.

“Obviously, the guy I did it against, it makes it a little bit cooler,” Hill said.

“Soto backspins the ball well when he gets them,” Marsh said. “It was probably one of the best catches I’ve ever seen in person for sure. The way that he didn’t have time to time up the wall. He just had to go full speed and sacrifice his body into it. You know, especially against these guys, it makes it a little more special, the in-division opponent. That’s one of the coolest moments I’ve seen in the outfield in a long time.”

Marsh in the sixth inning saved Hill on what could have been an unfortunate drop. He lost a fly ball hit by Carson Benge in the lights. Hill held up his hands and as he was searching for the ball, the right fielder Marsh ran over to make the catch. Marsh, per MLB.com’s Paul Casella, covered 125 feet on the play.

This fly ball was 39 feet away from center fielder Derek Hill — and 125 feet away from right fielder Brandon Marsh.

Guess who made the catch? pic.twitter.com/9H27Y2f37O

— Paul Casella (@Paul_CasellaMLB) June 27, 2026

“I see D-Hill with his hands up and I’m like, ‘Oh gosh,’” Marsh said. “So I just started sprinting just to be there, just in case, hoping he would find it and get back under it. It was kind of crazy. I had no idea where the ball was at once it got to the top, and I was just running for the sake of it. I was just really hoping that D-Hill was just gonna find it again. It’s hard to even talk about. You just have to go through it to see it.

“I’m running after it, and I’m trying to find just a small dot in the air. I can’t see anything. I can just see him in my peripheral with his hands up. I’m like, ‘Ok, keep your hands because if you put it down, I can’t see you. It popped up like last second, stuck the glove out and just came up with it. It was just a lucky play.”

“I had just seen him coming across like a freakin’ bull,” Hill said.

It’s been a great week of baseball for the Phillies, who are 4-1 on this current NL East roadtrip against the Nationals and Mets. They didn’t need that dramatic home run in the ninth as Jhoan Duran shut the door in the ninth for his 20th save of the season. Trea Turner drove in the winning run in the seventh on an RBI single.

From 10 under in April to 10 over in June, the Phillies’ remarkable turnaround has been fun to watch.

“It feels good,” Mattingly said. “The first goal is to get to .500, then it goes to five and now it’s 10. The next step is 15. I think you keep going, but it’s been good to be able to get there fairly quickly. We got ourselves back in it, put ourselves in position and now it’s a matter of can we consistently run and kind of stay at our pace. So, we’ll see.”