PHILADELPHIA -- It's hard to argue that there's a more dominant one-two punch in baseball right now than Zack Wheeler and Cristopher Sánchez.
One night after Sánchez extended his scoreless streak to 37 2/3 innings, Wheeler turned in his second straight scoreless outing in Saturday night’s 3-0 win against the Guardians at Citizens Bank Park. After waiting out a one-hour, 56-minute rain delay before the first pitch, Wheeler allowed just two hits over six scoreless innings to lower his season ERA to 1.67 in six starts. (Sánchez has a National League-leading 1.62 ERA in 11 starts.)
“I think everybody feeds off each other, you know?” Wheeler said. “You always try to beat the guy the day before you. He's pretty hard to beat right now, but you’ve got to go out there and try. … Whatever run he's been on, it’s pretty special. It's almost unmatchable.”
That may be, but Wheeler is on a remarkable run of his own in his return to the rotation. Though his season debut was delayed until April 25 after undergoing thoracic outlet decompression surgery last September, it took Wheeler less than a month to quash any concerns about whether he'd be able to be his usual self on the mound post-surgery.
“Zack's been amazing,” said interim manager Don Mattingly, who spent years seeing his teams stifled by Wheeler during his time leading the Marlins. “Getting to see this firsthand is fun to watch. And where he's come from and everything -- he’s just been everything we needed.
“Him and Sánchy back-to-back, there’s a really good feeling when you come around there.”
That’s a bit of an understatement. Take a look at what the Phillies' co-aces have done so far in May:
• May 1 (Wheeler): 6 IP, 1 ER
• May 5 (Sanchez): 8 IP, 0 ER
• May 6 (Wheeler): 6 1/3 IP, 3 ER
• May 10 (Sanchez): 7 IP, 0 ER
• May 12 (Wheeler): 7 1/3 IP, 1 ER
• May 16 (Sanchez): 9 IP, 0 ER
• May 17 (Wheeler): 7 IP, 0 ER
• Friday (Sanchez): 8 IP, 0 ER
• Saturday (Wheeler): 6 IP, 0 ER
• TOTAL: 5 ER in 64 2/3 IP
That’s good for a 0.70 combined ERA across their nine starts in May. That, of course, includes a combined 30 scoreless innings their last two turns through the rotation.
“When you get 38 scoreless from Sanchez, or whatever it's at right now, and then you got Wheels right after?” said Bryce Harper, who went 3-for-4 with two runs and a stolen base. “I mean, it's tough coming into a ballpark and knowing you're going to face those two guys in a series.”
Obviously that’s about as much as you could possibly ask for from your top two starters, but that production has been all the more beneficial given the backend of the rotation.
Aaron Nola has struggled to a 6.04 ERA through 10 starts -- and he’s pitched into the sixth inning in only three of those 10 outings. Andrew Painter, meanwhile, has a 5.77 ERA, and while he’s pitched better in his past two outings, the Phillies have lifted him at fewer than 70 pitches in each of those starts.
With the bullpen being asked to compensate for the back end of the rotation of late, the consistency from Wheeler and Sánchez has not only produced its share of victories, but it’s also prevented the Phillies’ relief corps from getting overworked.
“Those guys are a weapon,” Mattingly said. “When you get that, you kind of start to count on those innings, you know? … When you can get outings like that, it kind of continuously keeps your guys fresh and lets you use them where they're supposed to be used. So it's really important over the course of the season.”
Of course, nothing is more important than Wheeler not only returning to full health, but somehow picking up right where he left off as a perennial Cy Young contender. His next start could be his biggest test yet, though, as he’s lined up to face the reigning back-to-back champion Dodgers in Friday’s series opener at Dodger Stadium.
The Phillies are 6-0 in Wheeler’s starts this season.
“It’s vintage Wheels,” Harper said. “He's one of the best in baseball. When you look at the one-two punch of him and Sánchy, it’s been impressive the last couple years.”