PHILADELPHIA -- Zack Wheeler will be eager to put his last start behind him when he takes the mound for Thursday afternoon's series finale against the Padres at Citizens Bank Park.
After looking like his usual dominant self through his first six starts this season, Wheeler was tagged for four home runs last Friday at Dodger Stadium. The four homers tied his career high for any single outing (he also gave up four on June 16, 2024, vs. the Orioles).
“It’s just one of those days,” Wheeler said afterwards. “It’s baseball, it’s a weird sport.”
But here's what's really weird: Wheeler really wasn't that bad against the Dodgers.
As crazy as that sounds on a night when he allowed four home runs, Wheeler allowed only one other hit (a single) while striking out four and walking one over six innings. His velocity was up across the board, he induced 11 swings and misses and added another 17 called strikes.
Wheeler finished his outing by breezing through the sixth inning, in which he retired Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts and Kyle Tucker on just nine pitches.
“I was just a little out of whack, so I wasn't as sharp,” Wheeler said. “But I was able to fix it that last inning, and I felt a lot more normal, a lot better. So kind of just take that and go with it."
There's no reason to think the four-homer outing is a sign of a larger problem. After all, Wheeler posted a 1.67 ERA through his first six starts -- all of which resulted in Phillies victories.
While the strikeout numbers haven't quite returned to their elite level yet, Wheeler is still holding opponents to a .183 batting average and a .565 OPS this season. Both of those numbers would be single-season bests for Wheeler over the course of an entire season.