WASHINGTON – The Phillies needed an encouraging outing from Zack Wheeler on Wednesday night not only to split this two-game series against the Nationals, but to feel better about the starting rotation for the stretch run of the postseason chase.
One day after placing Jesús Luzardo on the 15-day injured list and watching NL Cy Young Award candidate Cristopher Sánchez struggle in a loss to the Nats, the Phils were able to sit back and watch Wheeler carve up Washington en route to a 3-0 victory.
Wheeler gave up just four hits and one walk while striking out five over his seven strong innings. He faced the minimum through his last three frames, ending his outing by striking out Dylan Crews with a 96.6 mph fastball low in the zone. Wheeler is now three strikeouts away from 2,000 in his career.
“Obviously, I know it's probably my last inning, so I just tried to really execute that pitch and just kind of put everything behind it that I could,” Wheeler said. “He was putting up a little tough at-bat, so I just tried to reach back and execute that pitch, and I was able to.”
The three-time All-Star has completed seven innings in back-to-back starts. He is now 13-5 with a 2.99 ERA, bringing a sigh of relief to the Phillies pitching staff.
“There's just a game plan coming in knowing these guys are super aggressive,” Wheeler said. “They're swinging first pitch a lot, so I threw a lot of first-pitch balls. But that was kind of on purpose just to see if I could get weak contact. If I was going in, I was trying to throw it off the plate. If I was going away, I was trying to make them chase a ball or two off the plate. … For the most part, I was trying to throw outside the zone, as weird as that sounds, just to try to use their aggressiveness against them.”
Wheeler wasn’t able to enjoy the Phillies’ run to the postseason in 2025 after he landed on the injured list in August and missed the remainder of the season after thoracic outlet decompression surgery. But now the veteran is fully embracing the push for the playoffs.
“This time of the season is cool. It’s special,” he said. “This is where you want to be, and these games really, really matter. It's fun competing in these types of games, these atmospheres. Getting that close to the finish line, you gotta really bear down, and [I] think everybody knows that.”
The Phillies offense was able to give Wheeler an early cushion by scoring two runs off Nationals opener Jared Simpson in the first inning. Luis Arraez drove in the third run with a double in the seventh, finishing the night 1-for-2 with a double, three walks and an RBI. His three walks tied a career high, which he also did on April 1, 2024, with the Marlins and Sept. 21, 2021, with the Twins.
“It’s a great opportunity for me and a great day overall on the individual side at the plate for me,” Arraez said via interpreter Diego D’Aniello. “It’s a great opportunity because I think it’s [a few] years for me without having a day like this, so it’s special.”
Alec Bohm also had a good night at the plate, going 2-for-2 with three walks and an RBI. But the Phillies felt they may have left more on the table. They drew 13 walks, which tied the Nationals club record, but went 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position and left 13 runners on base.
“Got them in the strike zone,” interim manager Don Mattingly said. “Yeah, pretty amazing, 13 walks is a lot of walks.
“I look at it as we won tonight. That's how I look at it. No matter how we do it, we got a win. So that's really what matters at the end of the day. Obviously, you have chances to do more. We weren't able to do that, but take the W, take the approach and go from there.”
With the Cubs' 8-4 win over the Braves, the Phillies are now 4 1/2 games behind the Braves in the NL East while remaining a half-game behind the Cubs for the top NL Wild Card spot.
“It's win games and get in the playoffs at this point, so I think they're all must-win,” said Bohm. “We just want it in our control. If we win, it's in our control. If we don't win, then we're scoreboard watching and who knows what can happen. So if we go out there, take care of business, win games, put together quality at-bats, play good defense, just play the game the right way, do what we do, then it's in our hands.”