PHILADELPHIA -- Zack Wheeler said he’s OK.
He just had a bad day.
If that’s all it was on Monday night at loanDepot park, then Phillies fans can exhale. Because they need a healthy and effective Wheeler if they want to win a World Series this year. Wheeler allowed six hits, five runs, one walk and two home runs and struck out six in three innings in a 8-7 walk-off loss to the Marlins, who snapped a franchise-record 12-game losing streak.
The Phillies have lost seven of 10 games since the All-Star break.
“Just one of those games,” Wheeler said. “Just one of those days. It wasn’t coming out. No excuse. Just a bad game.”
It was Wheeler’s shortest start since April 17, 2022. It was the first time he allowed five runs in a game since May 29, 2025.
But how Wheeler got hit raised red flags. His four-seam fastball averaged only 93.5 mph, down 1.7 mph from his season average. It was the second-lowest four-seam average in any start in his career. He averaged a career-low 93.1 mph on April 3, 2024.
“It's one of those days,” Wheeler said. “You have a bad day every once in a while, I’m sure. Right?”
Wheeler was nauseous at some point on Monday, although he declined to get into specifics.
“That didn't really affect me out there,” he said. “Ball just wasn't coming out like I wanted it to. Body wasn't moving like I wanted it to. I was trying to get through it. Some games I can, and just today I couldn't.”
Phillies interim manager Don Mattingly said there are no concerns that Wheeler might be hurt.
“No, no,” he said. “He said he felt physically fine. He said the ball wasn't coming out.”
Wheeler allowed a first-inning leadoff single to Otto Lopez, who scored on a stolen base and double error from J.T. Realmuto and Trea Turner to make it 1-0. It was Turner’s seventh error in 10 games, the most by a Phillies shortstop in a 10-game span since Desi Relaford had seven from June 3-18, 2000, according to Elias Sports Bureau.
Heriberto Hernández hit a solo homer to left field on a 93.2 mph sinker to make it 2-0.
Wheeler allowed a solo homer to Griffin Conine on a 0-1 curveball to start the second. He later allowed a double to Jakob Marsee and a triple to Lopez to give the Marlins a 5-2 lead.
It was the first time Wheeler had allowed five runs in the first two innings of a game since June 2, 2023, in Washington.
Mattingly, head athletic trainer Paul Buchheit and others huddled together in the dugout after the second inning.
“Kind of talking through how to get through the game,” Mattingly said.
After Wheeler pitched a scoreless third inning, Mattingly dipped into the tunnel in the visitors’ dugout to tell him his night was finished.
Wheeler’s ERA jumped from 2.16 to 2.53.
But the Phillies came back. They scored four runs in the sixth inning to take a 6-5 lead. Realmuto’s double scored a run. Realmuto then scored the go-ahead run on a throwing error from Hernández in left field.
Realmuto’s sacrifice fly in the eighth made it 7-5, but the lead didn’t hold. Phillies closer Jhoan Duran blew his second save of the season, allowing three runs in the ninth. They were the first runs he had allowed since June 9. He had allowed six runs all season.
“Being able to pick Zack up like that after all the times that he's picked us up in the last seven years, that would have been nice to do,” Realmuto said. “But it was a weird game that they got to two of our very best pitchers.”