PHILADELPHIA — Saturday afternoon, Phillies supervisor Rob Thomson started to make his case for Zack Wheeler to be within the combine for the National League Cy Young Award.
Saturday night time, Wheeler gave the Phils a Cy Young-caliber efficiency.
Wheeler allowed one run on three hits over seven-plus innings, cruising to a 12-1 win over the Cardinals in entrance of a sold-out crowd at Citizens Bank Park. Wheeler struck out 10 with out issuing a stroll, gathering the twentieth double-digit strikeout recreation of his profession.
“He was electric tonight,” Thomson mentioned. “That’s possibly the perfect stuff I’ve seen him have the entire 12 months. The four-seam had leap to it, the two-seam had power-sink to it, all of his secondary pitches have been good and he threw strikes. You cannot ask for rather more than that.
“That’s what [Cy Young winners] look like right there.”
Wheeler improved to 10-6 whereas decreasing his ERA to three.59, a determine that can probably should drop additional if he desires to get into that Cy Young dialog. Since opening the 12 months 4-4 with a 4.33 ERA in his first 12 begins, Wheeler is 6-2 with a 3.02 ERA in his previous 14 outings.
“I want to be in it, too,” Wheeler mentioned of the Cy Young race. “I appreciate that from [Thomson], but you’ve got to pitch well and you’ve got to put yourself there.”
Cy Young discuss apart, it’s essential to notice that after the Phillies went 6-6 in Wheeler’s first 12 begins this season, they’ve gained 10 of his 14 outings since June 8, serving to them seize management of the NL’s prime Wild Card spot with 33 video games remaining within the common season. When Wheeler’s run started, Philadelphia was 29-32 and three video games out of the final Wild Card spot; since then, the Phillies are 42-26, placing them in place to succeed in the postseason for a second straight 12 months.
“The dude’s a workhorse, man,” mentioned Brandon Marsh, one in all three Phillies with a house run in Saturday’s win. “You know what you’re going to get out of him. He’s not going to shy away from anything. It’s always a fun game when Wheels is pitching.”
The recreation really remained throughout the Cardinals’ attain till the seventh, when Philadelphia busted out for seven runs, six of them approaching three-run homers by Marsh and Nick Castellanos. The Phillies have a league-high 48 residence runs in August, establishing a franchise document for any calendar month.
But Wheeler’s outing was the perfect information for the Phillies, who’ve seen his velocity leap a tick or two throughout his previous two begins because of a mechanical adjustment he made earlier than final week’s begin towards the Nationals.
“The last few starts, it seems like he’s getting stronger and stronger,” Thomson mentioned. “Maybe that’s a good sign.”
Wheeler’s efficiency Saturday shouldn’t have been a lot of a shock, primarily based each on his work the previous two-plus months and his dominance of St. Louis lately. Since the start of 2021, Wheeler is 4-0 with a 0.51 ERA in 5 begins (together with postseason), permitting simply two runs over 35 1/3 innings.
After retiring seven straight to begin the sport — together with 5 by way of strikeout — Wheeler served up the primary residence run of rookie Luken Baker’s profession. The homer didn’t appear to faze Wheeler, who allowed only one infield single over the subsequent four-plus innings, retiring 13 straight Cardinals by the seventh.
“That was just a mistake that I made and he hit it,” Wheeler mentioned of the house run. “I knew the type of stuff that I had today, and that wasn’t going to bother me. Just kind of get right back in there and just keep doing what I was doing.”
Barring an epic September, Wheeler’s numbers are unlikely to thrust him into the Cy Young combine with the likes of Blake Snell, Justin Steele and Zac Gallen. But given the way in which he’s pitched of late — he has a 2.51 ERA over his previous seven begins — he’s not able to concede the distinction to anybody with greater than a month remaining within the common season.
“I would have liked to start that a little earlier than now,” Wheeler mentioned of his potential Cy Young candidacy. “But hopefully, I can make a little push.”
Content Source: www.mlb.com