Wheeler Shines, Phillies Offense Disappears in Another Brutal Loss

After a long night for the Phillies’ offense last night, they came in looking to find some support for their other ace, Zack Wheeler, and with the Mets taking out their frustration on the Atlanta Braves, winning this game is very important to staying atop the National League East. Keeping the Mets in the rear view mirror is incredibly important because they are a very streaky team, and if last year taught us anything, no division lead is safe against the Mets.

However, for a second game in a row, the Phillies’ offense looked lost, had opportunities to score, and wasted a solid pitching performance from one of their aces; however, this time they lost the game 2-0, different day, same result. This time, the Mets didn’t give the Phils any grace, beating the Atlanta Braves 7-3, creating a 0.5 game difference for first in the NL East.

Wheeler has had 2 starts where his pitch count was a bit of an issue in the first innings. In the first inning tonight, he threw 26 pitches, which is the highest total of any inning of the year for Wheeler. In his last start, he threw 98 pitches through 5 innings, but he was missing bats, and had 12 swing and misses, showing that his control was an issue early against the Mets this weekend, and was once again an issue.

The Astros took advantage of their early opportunity and scored their only run off of Wheeler on came in the first when Jeremy Pena hit a ground rule double, then the next batter, Isaac Paredes, hit a ground ball that snuck under the glove of Trea Turner for a single, it was a ball that Turner comes up with nine times out of ten, and could have been scored an error. It was a small thing that ended up having a huge effect on the game. Especially with the Phillies’ lack of offense right now.

Wheeler settled in the second inning. He found his fastball command, and that allowed him to go back to pitching off his fastball, and he found rhythm, and that made his breaking pitches and sinker more reliable and effective. After this, he was in control. He pitched 6 innings where he never seemed to be in complete control like we’re used to seeing from Wheeler, but he still struck out 8 and only gave up 4 hard-hit balls.

Jordan Romano pitched a clean 7th, and Matt Strahm gave up a home run to Victor Caratini to make the game 2-0, which lately puts the game completely out of reach with recent offensive trends for the Phils. If the Phils give up two runs, it generally results in a win, but right now it’s a loss.

The offense was silent for most of the game until the 8th inning, when they had the bases loaded, one out with Alec Bohm at the plate, who swung at strike three, which was a foot off the outside of the plate. Nick Castellanos stepped up as the last hope in the 8th inning. Astros reliever Bryan King induced a groundout to end the inning. This was important because not only did the Phils squander a bases-loaded, less than two outs situation, but this also extended the Phillies’ scoreless streak to 18 consecutive innings, the longest streak since 2023.

This will result in a series loss, and will put the Phillies in the situation where they have to win to keep from getting swept. Houston continues to be the house of horrors for the Phils, and just like at the beginning of the season when the offense was in the process of gelling, it’s time for Kevin Long to work his magic. In the last 2 games in Houston, the offense is 1-12 with runners in scoring position. The game closed tonight with 19 scoreless innings after Josh Hader made the Phillies look confused in the 9th.

Two bright spots on the Phillies’ offense tonight were Brandon Marsh and Kyle Schwarber, who had 2 hits each, but there needs to be more timely hits and fewer at-bats like Bohm’s in the 8th inning with the bases loaded. His half-hearted swing is emblematic of the Phillies’ offense right now, overmatched by a very good Astros pitching staff.

Tomorrow is a new day, but if the Phillies can’t string together some hits and get at least one clutch hit, they’ll be looking at a sweep, and after leapfrogging the Mets last weekend, this was the worst outcome for the Phillies. Tomorrow, they will send out Cristopher Sanchez to take on Hunter Brown, who comes in with a 1.88 ERA and 0.92 WHIP, so the task doesn’t get easier for this struggling Phils offense. In a dead heat with the Mets for first in the division, the Phils can’t afford a third clunker in a row.

---

Use code PHILLYSPORTSREPORT for $20 off your first SeatGeek order

Click here to save 10% on any order at FOCO