It’s hard to believe that Zack Wheeler was a major question mark less than a month ago. At least for now, he looked like the Zack Wheeler of old as he went 7.1 innings against the Red Sox while allowing one run on just 87 pitches in a 2-1 win. Kyle Schwarber tied the Phillies franchise record with a home run in his fifth straight game in the first inning and Bryson Stott added an RBI double in the second to give Wheeler all the offense he needed.
Boston started a left-handed opener in Jovani Morán
and Schwarber promptly greeted him with his seventh first inning home run of the year. Schwarber became the eighth Phillies hitter to homer in five consecutive games and the first since Trea Turner in 2023.
Bryan Bello entered the game in the second for Boston to serve as the bulk pitcher, and Brandon Marsh quickly greeted him with single to right field on the first pitch that extended Marsh’s hitting streak to 13 games. J.T. Realmuto then grounded out to the pitcher but was able to move Marsh into scoring position. That proved to be important when Bryson Stott laced a cutter down the right field line at 109 MPH that hopped over the short Fenway wall for a ground rule double that scored Marsh and gave the Phillies a 2-0 lead.
But that was all the offense the team would muster, as they would have only three baserunners the rest of the game. Luckily for the Phillies, that was all they needed with Zack Wheeler on the mound.
Wheeler needed only six pitches in each of the first two innings to retire the side and needed just four to get through the third, as the Red Sox were swinging early and often and grounded into two double plays in just the first three innings. Wheeler did not throw more than two pitches to any hitter until facing Jarren Duran in the fourth, who ultimately went down on six pitches with a strikeout.
However, the seventh inning proved to be troublesome for Wheeler who had cruised through the previous six. Mickey Gasper led off with a single before Wilyer Abreu and Masataka Yoshida were both retired on fly outs, with Abreu’s landing in Adolis Garcia’s glove just steps from the short bullpen fence. But Trevor Story singled with two outs to put runners on the corners with two outs before Ceddanne Rafaela fought off a sinker on the hands and blooped it into shallow right for an RBI base hit.
Wheeler then got ahead 0-2 to Marcelo Mayer who scalded a 106 MPH grounder up the middle, but Trea Turner was able to make a nice play to field it cleanly and throw Mayer out to end the threat. Wheeler then went back out for the eighth and allowed a leadoff single to Carlos Narváez before getting Caleb Durbin to fly out to end his night. José Alvarado was then tasked with preserving the lead. He was able to do just that with a strikeout to end the inning after obtaining the second out on a replay review that overturned a safe call when Turner bobbled a 104 MPH grounder from Jarren Duran before running to tag second base. Wheeler meanwhile ended his night with six hits allowed, no walks, one hit by pitch, and four strikeouts on just 87 pitches. He generated seven total whiffs, and his fastball averaged 94.8 MPH, a slight uptick from his 94.5 average so far this season.
Jhoan Duran then entered in the ninth for his first save opportunity since April 11th. He quickly got Wilyer Abreu to strike out on a foul tip before Yoshida followed with a single. Isiah Kiner-Falefa entered as a pinch runner and stole second base after a replay review overturned an out call. Duran then walked Story to put the winning run on first with one out before getting a strikeout of Rafaela on a 99 MPH fastball way up and out of the zone. Mayer then sharply grounded out to second to allow Duran to escape the jam and seal the win for the Phillies.
Tomorrow’s matchup
Andrew Painter (1-4, 6.89) will look to rebound from his brutal last start against Sonny Gray (3-1, 3.54) of the Red Sox. First pitch is scheduled for 6:45.
