Zack Wheeler’s Bounce-Back Start Leads Phillies to 5-2 Victory, Sweep Angels

The Phillies have had a very exciting month of August. They have been firing on almost all cylinders. The offense has jumped to being one of the top groups in the league. The bullpen has solidified itself and, for the most part, has done a good job avoiding implosions. And the starting rotation has been reinvigorated by Andrew Painter, Aaron Nola, Jesus Luzardo, and Cristopher Sanchez enjoying very successful months.

These factors have led the Phillies to be one of, if not the best, teams in baseball this month, holding a 20-7 record in August. The success has been capped off by a solid sweep of the Los Angeles Angels, the first month with four sweeps for Philadelphia since August of 1991.

If there has been anything that has truly been an issue for the Phillies this month, that would undoubtedly be the struggles of Zack Wheeler, who was pitching to a 7.18 ERA in the second half coming into Sunday afternoon.

Wheeler has said he’s felt fine, but he hasn’t looked fine. His command was off, his pitches didn’t look good, and velocity wasn’t always there. It looked eerily similar to the issues last season that led to him being placed on the injured list in need of Thoracic Outlet Surgery.

Wheeler entered Sunday afternoon’s finale against the Angels with a valuable chance to bounce back a bit, facing an offensively poor team and with an opportunity for the Phillies to sweep the Angels out. Wheeler took advantage of it well enough to get the job done, earning the win in the Phils’ 5-2 win.

He struggled in the first, loading the bases with no outs, mainly due to his command not being there — walking the leadoff man and hitting the next batter before a single loaded the bases. Wheeler was able to power through, however; a double play ball and a strikeout limited the damage to only one run.

That was the lone run Wheeler allowed on the day. His command got better as the game went along, and that was valuable and a positive to see. It still wasn’t stellar; he got to over 100 pitches by the sixth, and outside the fourth inning, allowed an Angel on base each inning.

It wasn’t a perfect outing, but it was a necessary outing. Wheeler hadn’t shown anything positive heading into the series, but on Sunday, he took advantage of a bad Angels team en route to a line of six innings, one run allowed on four hits and three walks while striking out six.

The other side of the game, the offense, had a very successful day. The lineup hadn’t been as potent during this West Coast trip as earlier this month; however, they’ve been able to do enough to collect victories.

The four-run ninth in the Friday opener via the Edmundo Sosa grand slam turned a 3-1 loss into an exciting 5-3 comeback. Three runs in the 10th on Saturday led to an extended 4-2 win. Sunday, however, was easily the most complete offensive showing in the series.

After a quiet first two innings, J.T. Realmuto jumpstarted the lineup with a solo blast. Edmundo Sosa continued his elite month of August with a solo blast of his own to take a 2-1 lead in the seventh. Sosa is batting .423 with 15 RBIs in 26 at-bats this month.

Outside of those two hits, the Phillies were struggling for most of the game to score runners. Those struggles were taken care of; however, the Phillies scored four of their five runs in the final three innings. The Sosa blast in the seventh, a Luis Arraez pinch-hit sac fly, Brandon Marsh‘s pinch-hit RBI single in the eighth, and Bryce Harper made the ninth exciting with an RBI double.

No doubt the offense has been the key to the Phillies’ success in the month of August, and when the team is hot, it’s almost always because the offense is going strong. With September looming, that means so are the playoffs, and what the month of August has cemented is that there is no doubt the Phillies have the talent to battle well in October.

Get New Articles Emailed Right To Your Inbox: