PHILADELPHIA -- It was obvious early on that Zack Wheeler didn't have his best command on Monday night against the Marlins -- but you never would have guessed it by his final numbers.
Wheeler racked up a season-high nine strikeouts over six scoreless innings while allowing only two hits in the Phillies’ 7-0 win at Citizens Bank Park. And though he also matched a season high with three walks, the veteran righty made sure none of those would come back to haunt him.
Take, for instance, the first inning, when Wheeler walked Marlins shortstop Otto Lopez to put two on with nobody out. Wheeler proceeded to get the next batter on a flyout before striking out the next two to escape the threat.
One inning later, Wheeler issued a two-out walk only to promptly induce an inning-ending groundout.
The most impressive display, however, came in the fourth inning, when Wheeler issued an eight-pitch leadoff walk to Xavier Edwards.
From there? Strikeout, strikeout, strikeout.
Wheeler got Heriberto Hernández to swing through a splitter for the first out, then tied up Owen Caissie with a 95.8 mph fastball dotted on the high-inside corner. Wheeler then made arguably his best pitch of the night, spotting a 3-2 cutter perfectly on the outside corner to freeze Jakob Marsee to end the inning.
“You let up free passes, you’ve got to keep them there,” Wheeler said. “It’s a tightrope, so just got to walk it fine and get outs. But you put yourself in that situation, so you’ve got to get out of it.”
Without the precision that he has become known for over the past half-decade, Wheeler found himself throwing 24 pitches in the first inning and 21 more in the second. He dialed it in from there, though, getting through six scoreless on a night when the Phillies needed it after getting three straight starts of fewer than six innings -- including a surprise dud from Cristopher Sánchez on Sunday vs. the Brewers.
“Just inconsistent,” Wheeler said of his outing. “I mean, happy to get out of there the way I did, but just kind of a few inconsistent starts in a row -- just command-wise, just not as sharp as what I'm used to.”
Despite a “few inconsistent starts in a row,” Wheeler has now gone at least six innings in nine consecutive starts.
“As long as I keep getting decent results, we're on a good road,” Wheeler said. “But just need to sharpen up a little bit.”
That doesn’t sound like someone who had just lowered his season ERA to 2.01 through 10 starts after missing the start of the season while recovering from thoracic outlet decompression surgery last September.
“I think that's something that makes him so special,” catcher J.T. Realmuto said. “He has very high standards for himself, and when he doesn't feel like he's perfect, he feels like it's not his best stuff.”
Best stuff or not, the Phillies improved to 8-2 in Wheeler’s starts this season.
“He continues to go out and just give us quality innings,” Realmuto said, “and give us a chance to win every time he steps on the mound.”
Imagine what Wheeler’s numbers might look like if he’s able to find his best stuff.
“Not as fine as I want to be command-wise, but I'm getting through it,” Wheeler said. “And I'll take it, that's for sure.”