Phillies Offense Wakes Up to Back Strong Wheeler Outing to Sweep Season Series Against Padres

For the first time in 16 games, the Philadelphia Phillies banged out more than 10 hits in a game, which helped propel them to a 6-4 win over the San Diego Padres in the series-closing matinee, finishing out the sweep.

The Phillies came into this game looking to sweep the season series against the San Diego Padres, getting back to winning series once again. With Zack Wheeler on the mound, this looked like a great opportunity for the season sweep.

The scoring started off in the fourth inning when Bryson Stott drove home a manufactured run, and in the next inning, Adolis Garcia hit a home run, which had to feel good given his struggles at the plate. After scoring on an errant pickoff throw, the Phils had a 3-0 lead. The Padres stormed back for two runs in the seventh, but the Phils got three runs back in the bottom of the inning by taking advantage of runners in scoring position and coming through in the clutch. The Padres scored two runs in the top of the ninth on a two-run home run by Jackson Merrill, making the game 6-4, which is where the game would end.

Phillies Offense Closes Out Series Strong

In this one, the Phillies did something they haven’t done since May 18: they scored five runs in a game. This stretch has been a rough one for the offense, an offense that was looked at as one of the top coming into the season. They did get off to a rough start, but they had made some strides in playing more of a complete game. When the Phillies offense is at its best, the formula is simple: get on base, manufacture runs, and keep the line moving until Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber can take a shot at clearing the bases.

This is how the Phils played in this one. The first run of the game was manufactured and started with a Harper walk, ended with Stott driving him in on a single. The next run was scored when Garcia hit a home run, which is a great sign for him, as he is trying to get back to where he is capable of hitting. This all leads to the Phils being in a position to put up crooked numbers as they did in the seventh. They scored three runs in the seventh, which is the first time they have done so in more than a week — something they need to do more of if they want to make noise as the season goes on.

Wheeler In Control Again

Wheeler came in with an obvious directive, to challenge the Padres hitters early on, and that led to him dominating the early innings. His control and the way he mixed his pitches were perhaps the best he has done all season, and it culminated with him taking a no-hitter into the sixth inning, which was broken up by Bryce Johnson singling to end the no-hit bid. That threat ended quickly when Fernando Tatis Jr. grounded into a double play to end the inning.

The seventh inning wasn’t as kind to the Padres, scoring twice, including a Manny Machado home run, but Wheeler closed out the inning and his outing with an overpowering strikeout of Miguel Andujar with a swing through after Andujar lost an ABS challenge.

All in all, Wheeler was in control all game, and with his performance in the game, giving up two hits, two runs, striking out eight over seven innings, brought his season ERA to 2.31 for the season. Watching him and Cristopher Sanchez in back-to-back games gives the feeling of the Phillies having two aces at the top of the rotation once again.

Jose Alvarado Can’t Close Out The Game Clean

In the ninth inning, Don Mattingly elected to bring in Alvarado to close out the game, since it was a scheduled game off for Jhoan Duran. Even if it wasn’t a scheduled game off, they were up by four, so it would likely not have been Duran anyhow. When Alvarado came into the game, he struggled with control, which is where he tends to stumble. He walked Ty France, the ground crew came out to address an issue with the pitching rubber, then he got to a full count with Merrill and threw a low sinker, which Merrill was waiting on, and deposited into the facing of the second deck in right.

Alvarado has not pitched well in clutch situations all season, which is obvious by his ERA, which was over six right after giving up the home run to Merrill. This begs the question, is it time to move him into a lower inning slot in the late inning rotation for the Phils? Orion Kerkering has more than proven himself to be a very capable setup man for the closer, and having him close out those situations would definitely help to keep pulses lower in the later innings.

The Phils welcome the plucky Chicago White Sox for a weekend series, and hopefully, this late-inning drama will not show up over the weekend.

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