Zack Wheeler walked out to the mound at Citizens Bank Park Tuesday night needing three strikeouts to reach 2,000. It took him 12 pitches. Garrett Mitchell went down first. Then Jackson Chourio and Brice Turang were rung up as Wheeler reached the milestone against the Milwaukee Brewers.
But, Wheeler kept going.
William Contreras, Jake Bauers and Christian Yelich struck out in the second. Luis Lara struck out to lead off the third inning. Wheeler struck out seven straight Brewers to start the game, something no Phillies pitcher had done to start a game. Cooper Pratt finally ended it by grounding out to third.
Wheeler, 36, is the 96th pitcher in major league history to reach 2,000 strikeouts and only nine got there faster.
Zack Wheeler strikes out
the side in the first inning to reach 2,000 career Ks! https://t.co/R3R5L7zfdE pic.twitter.com/31f3TzQtwP
— MLB (@MLB) September 22, 2026
It came almost a year after a surgeon in St. Louis removed his top rib to address the circulation problem in his arm.
The trouble started after a start in Washington on Aug. 15, 2025. Wheeler felt some heaviness in his right shoulder. By the next morning doctors had found a blood clot near it. The diagnosis was venous thoracic outlet syndrome, meaning a vein was getting pinched between his collarbone and rib cage. The fix was taking out the first rib and some of the muscle around it. He missed the rest of the season and the playoffs.
He came back April 25 against Atlanta, capped at 90 pitches. He hasn't looked back. Wheeler entered Tuesday 13-5 with a 2.99 ERA and 177 strikeouts in 150½ innings. In his previous four starts he had allowed three runs in 26 innings.
Aaron Nola still owns the Phillies' mark for strikeouts in a row at any point in a game. He struck out 10 straight Mets in June 2021, matching Tom Seaver's major league record from 1970. The modern record for starting a game that way is nine, set by Miami's Pablo Lopez against Atlanta in 2021.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Zack Wheeler opens with Phillies record 7 straight strikeouts, hits 2,000 for career
