MIAMI — The sinker from Zack Wheeler clocked 91.3 miles per hour.
Javier Sanoja whiffed on it anyway, biting on the inside fastball. But the radar gun didn’t lie. Wheeler’s pitch, which has lived around 95 mph this season, had lost more than just a tick.
In fact, all of Wheeler’s pitches trended down on Monday against the Marlins. The sinker to Sanoja turned out to be Wheeler’s third-to-last of the night. After Sanoja grounded out back to the mound on a sweeper that didn’t reach 80 mph, the Phillies opted to lift Wheeler after just three innings.
Both Wheeler and interim manager Don Mattingly said postgame that there were no injury concerns.
“Just one of those games, one of those days. Just wasn’t coming out,” Wheeler said. “No excuse.”
Even after an uncharacteristic performance by one of their aces, the Phillies managed to battle back. They were three outs away from handing Miami its 13th consecutive loss when another pillar of the pitching staff wavered. The Marlins walked it off, 8-7, on closer Jhoan Duran, handing him his second blown save of the year.
“It was a weird game that they got to two of our very best pitchers,” said catcher J.T. Realmuto. “That’s just kind of one you got to tip your cap to that lineup over there.”
Wheeler felt like something was off even in the bullpen pregame. But unlike in past outings, things didn’t improve when the game started. Wheeler walked out to the mound in the first inning already with a two-run lead, courtesy of a home run from Bryce Harper, and it evaporated almost immediately.
It started with another defensive breakdown after Otto Lopez led off the bottom of the inning with a single. When he stole second, Realmuto’s throw deflected off Bryson Stott’s glove and wound up with Trea Turner. His throw to third base then got away from Alec Bohm, and, propelled by the two errors, Lopez dashed home.
“Obviously when Harp hits the homer to start the game, you’re like ‘OK,’ and you got Wheels. You’re feeling pretty good. Obviously, that changed pretty quickly,” Mattingly said.
Because Heriberto Hernández homered two pitches later — on a 93.2 mph sinker — Lopez’s run was still charged to Wheeler. It was the first of five he would allow on Monday, the most Wheeler has given up in an outing since May 29, 2025. Over his three innings, the Marlins racked up six hits, including two homers.
“One of those days that you see the velocity right away, 93, didn’t seem like it had that same little zip,” Mattingly said. “Usually, you don’t have the zip on the fastball, the breaking ball is not going to be quite as sharp. … He said he felt physically fine, just the ball wasn’t coming out, as far as arm and stuff.”
Mattingly added that the Phillies trainers reported Wheeler felt nauseous following the game, but Wheeler refused to use that as an excuse.
“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. Just today I couldn’t.”
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Wheeler’s splitter was the only pitch that was somewhat effective, as he recorded four of his six strikeouts with it. His four-seam fastball averaged 93.5 mph, down from 95.2 mph, and it did not induce a single swing-and-miss.
When Mattingly brought in Kyle Backhus for the fourth, the Phillies were trailing, 5-2. Starting pitching has carried the Phillies this season, while the bullpen outside of Duran has been shaky. But on a night when two of their best pitchers faltered, it was the other relievers who gave the team a fighting chance.
Backhus covered two scoreless, while José Alvarado, Jonathan Bowlan, and Orion Kerkering pitched an inning to bridge the gap to Duran.
The offense stepped up, too. A four-hit, four-run sixth inning, highlighted by a ground-rule double from Realmuto, put the Phillies back in front. Realmuto also drove in an insurance run in the eighth for a 7-5 lead, hitting a sacrifice fly to score Stott after he tripled.
“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.
The Phillies were confident when Duran took the ball to close it out, and for good reason. Entering Monday’s game, the club had been 49-0 entering the ninth inning with a lead this season. Duran had not allowed a run since June 9.
But things started to feel precarious when back-to-back ground balls found holes in the infield, bringing the winning run to the plate. Neither were hit hard. Lopez’s single had a .080 expected batting average according to StatCast, but it got past a diving Harper.
“They do a lot of soft contact, so I can’t do anything about that,” Duran said.
Duran then hit Kyle Stowers with a pitch to load the bases. Hernández worked a full count and sent the payoff pitch up the middle to tie the game. Of the five hits Duran gave up, Hernández’s was the only one hit harder than 95 mph.
Griffin Conine was ultimately the hero for Miami, delivering the walk-off single to snap the Marlins’ losing streak at 12.
It was a deflating loss, at the expense of two pitchers who have each anchored many of the Phillies’ wins this year. But neither Wheeler nor Duran have any long term concerns about what unfolded Monday night. Nor does Mattingly.
“Just one of those days. You have a bad day once in a while, I’m sure,” Wheeler said. “So this is one of those days.”
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