Wheeler woke up with 5 career pick-offs -- he'll go to sleep with 7

NEW YORK -- Set to face the Mets for a second straight outing, Zack Wheeler mentioned earlier in the week that he may need to make some adjustments this time around.

Little did anyone know that meant suddenly adding a dynamic pick-off move to his arsenal.

OK, so Wheeler didn't actually tweak his pick-off move over the past week, but he did record a pair of pick-offs in Friday night's 2-1 win against the Mets at Citi Field. It marked the first time in his career that Wheeler picked off multiple batters in the same season, let alone the same game -- and both came against Mets speedster A.J. Ewing.

Now, it's worth noting that Ewing was safe at second base on the first pick-off as a Trea Turner throwing error allowed Ewing to escape a second-inning rundown. He wasn't as fortunate two innings later, when Wheeler again caught Ewing leaning prematurely. This time around, the Mets center fielder was called out for leaving the baseline as Turner attempted to slap the tag on him.

Those two pick-offs raised Wheeler’s career total to … seven.

“I usually get, like, one every other year,” Wheeler said. “So yeah, it was nice to get those.”

Aided by that newfound pick-off prowess, Wheeler turned in a remarkably efficient outing against New York. He allowed only five baserunners over seven innings of one-run ball, while striking out five and lowering his season ERA to 2.03.

Perhaps the most encouraging sign for Wheeler, though, was that he walked only one batter -- and that came on his second-to-last hitter of the night. It also came only after Ewing challenged a close 3-2 pitch that turned a potential inning-ending strikeout into a free pass.

Despite his success this season, Wheeler had been searching for his typical pinpoint command after issuing three walks in each of his past two outings -- and three of his past four.

Wheeler seemed to find it on Friday night, throwing 61 of his 98 pitches for strikes. That allowed him to complete seven innings for the fourth time in 12 starts this season -- but the first since June 4.

“Something is still a tick off,” Wheeler said. “And I hate saying that -- just because it was a good game -- but I'm so used to throwing eight or nine pitches out of 10 right where I exactly want it. So when that's not happening, I feel like it's just not there all the way, but I know things are going well, I'm going strong. So I'll take that, for sure.”

It was also the 53rd consecutive outing in which Wheeler completed at least five innings, snapping a tie with Roy Halladay for the fifth-longest streak in franchise history. He now trails only Curt Schilling (87 straight from 1997-2000), Steve Carlton (81 from 1979-82), Cole Hamels (65 from 2012-14) and Cliff Lee (60 from 2012-14).

Of course, Wheeler didn’t do it all himself on Friday night. He received a huge first-inning boost from center fielder Derek Hill, who made what Wheeler called the best catch he’s ever seen in person by going high above the wall to rob Juan Soto of a two-run homer.

Wheeler took over from there as he continues to put together one of the best stories in baseball in his comeback from thoracic outlet decompression surgery last September.

“I've always envisioned myself coming back and hitting the ground running,” Wheeler said. “I always want to win the Cy Young, win the World Series and make the All-Star Game -- that's always my three every single year. I knew I had to hit the ground running as soon as I got back to be able to do those.”

At 8-1 with a 2.03 ERA and a 0.86 WHIP, all three of those suddenly seem very much in play for Wheeler and the Phillies.