Zack Wheeler Deals in 7-2 Win Over Marlins
Field Level Media
The Phillies started their series off hot against the Miami Marlins with a 7-2 win today on a warm spring night. The Phillies were hungry for another win after splitting the 4-game set with the Giants. The bright stars of today’s game were the usual suspects of Bryce Harper and Zack Wheeler.
The man on the mound today for Miami was former Cy Young winner Sandy Alcantara. His season was full of ups and downs already so far. After coming off Tommy John surgery, he has been subpar so far with a 7 ERA.
As for Philly, they had ace Wheeler on the mound. To his part, Wheeler had come off of 2 very underwhelming starts against St. Louis and Atlanta and was looking to have a bounce back this game, and a bounce back he for sure had.
Hitters Start Hot
Today’s bats started hot in the first inning with a first-inning walk followed by a big fly by Harper, sending the ball deep to right field, making it his 5th of the season and his 3rd in this recent homestand.
This was followed up by an even bigger second inning. The game became out of hand when there were 4 straight runs scored for the Phills, headlined by RBI singles from Johan Rojas and Alec Bohm.
Kyle Schwarber made it seemingly out of reach for Miami in the 5th inning, launching a bomb into the bullpens in right field. This made the game 7-0, and the Phils didn’t look back even after a 2-run home run from Eric Wagaman.
Wheeling and Dealing
Today was headlined by what was thought to be a pitchers’ duel with Wheeler and Alcantara. Only 1 of the 2 had plans for dealing, as Wheeler made Phillies history today.
Wheeler shut down the Marlins, striking out 13 in 7 innings of work and 0 walks, making him the first Phillie to record 13+ strikeouts and 0 walks since Vince Velasquez‘s 16-strikeout game on April 14, 2016.
Another stat that Wheeler is a part of is that with having 13 Ks and Cristopher Sanchez‘s 12 Ks yesterday, marking the first time the Phillies have had 12+ K outings in back-to-back games since April 24-25 of 2011. The 2 guys that did it, just some dudes named Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee.
Pitching Prowess
The pitching performance today was stellar, to say the least. Not only did Wheeler have an elite-level performance, but the bullpen showed itself off as well.
Tanner Banks and Jose Ruiz came in to keep up the pitching and showed off well. Banks hurled 1 inning of no-hit ball and a strikeout, and was matched by Ruiz, who did about the same but even better, getting 2 strikeouts and shutting down a Marlins lineup that has been rather hot to start the year.
All 3 players combined for 16 strikeouts with only 5 hits and 2 walks given up. They also were great at stranding runners, leaving 7 runners on the basepaths, letting up just 2 runs in a quality game all around for the squad.
The Phillies tomorrow look to make it 3 wins in a row at 1:05 with Taijuan Walker on the mound.
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Roman Furchi
Roman has been an Eagles and Phillies reporter for Philly Sports Reports since September 2024. He has been a fan of baseball and football since birth and hopes to become a play-by-play announcer one day.
