Zack Wheeler, Phillies shake off rough first inning to complete sweep of Angels

ANAHEIM, Calif. — One fastball missed in. Another missed low, and a third missed way high.

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As Zack Wheeler issued a leadoff walk to Angels outfielder Wade Meckler to start Sunday’s series finale, it appeared his recent troubles with command were back in full force. And when Los Angeles loaded the bases before the Phillies’ ace right-hander could secure an out, things already teetered on disaster.

But Wheeler found a way to battle back. It helped that Moisés Ballesteros chased a splitter down and outside to end a seven-pitch at-bat with a grounder up the middle. So did the fact that shortstop Trea Turner was in the perfect position to field it, touch second, and fire to first for a key double play.

“I think it just kind of settled him down, because those first few batters he wasn’t as sharp, and he looked really good in the bullpen,” said catcher J.T. Realmuto. “So I knew that once he got that double play, got out of it, I felt pretty confident that he was going to be himself today.”

The Phillies conceded one run on the play, but the first inning suddenly seemed much more manageable. And that turned out to be the only run Wheeler allowed as he went on to complete six innings in the 5-2 win over the Angels. Backed by another go-ahead home run from Edmundo Sosa, the Phillies pulled off the three-game sweep in Anaheim.

It wasn’t exactly perfect. Wheeler didn’t appear to have much command of his splitter throughout, and he issued three total walks. But he turned in six innings for the first time in more than a month as he posted a solid start to build upon, outside of the first three batters of the game.

“You know what he can be and what he can do, and this was a good start to head in that direction,” said interim manager Don Mattingly.

In his first seven starts after the All-Star break entering Sunday, Wheeler had a 7.18 ERA. His previous outing in Seattle had marked a new low, as he was charged with eight runs in four innings.

In the four days since then, Wheeler has been submerged in data and charts. He and the Phillies examined his biomechanics to try to identify what has been going wrong on a deeper level than just looking at traditional film.

“They have the balls of your joints, where you can see the smallest little difference,” Wheeler said.

What they found was that Wheeler’s glove was placed 2 inches further down in Seattle than it has been all year. And a graph of his glove placement over the season showed that it had been trending in that direction in the second half.

“So, what do we do? Just bring that front arm up a little bit, and go from there,” Wheeler said. “And you kind of got to sync everything else up off of that. Getting that front arm up, not kind of over-rotating, shooting towards the third-base on-deck circle. … Getting that weight over the back leg, and being more direct, rather than the rotational.”

It was actually the first pitch of the fourth inning — a fastball that Christian Moore took for a called strike — where Wheeler thought something clicked. It felt like the timing of everything had fallen into place.

Realmuto thought Wheeler’s four-seam fastball had more life again, and his curveball was also effective. In total, he allowed four hits, sidestepping a leadoff double in the third. Derek Hill helped him out with that, laying out to catch a line drive in center field and rob Ballesteros of a hit.

Wheeler started to tire in the sixth and wound up walking consecutive batters with two out. His pitch count had crept into the triple digits, but Mattingly decided to give him a shot to finish the inning himself against Angels right-handed hitter José Siri. Wheeler won another seven-pitch battle by going back to his curveball, which Siri whiffed on for Wheeler’s sixth strikeout.

Realmuto helped his batterymate by delivering the Phillies’ first hit and run of the game in the third. He sent a game-tying homer to the rock formation in left-center field of Angel Stadium.

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The veteran catcher typically sits out on day games that directly follow night games, as part of the 35-year-old’s workload management. Realmuto caught 10 innings in Saturday night’s win.

But so long as he’s healthy, Realmuto wouldn’t typically miss catching a Wheeler start, no matter what happened the night prior.

“Other than the heat today, yeah, body felt fine,” Realmuto said. “We’ve done a good job this year, I think, of mixing my off days in at the right times. It’s time to go, because it’s that time of year where it’s time to start chasing the division.”

The Phillies’ offense mostly slumbered against lefty Yusei Kikuchi after Realmuto’s homer, until Sosa’s second big swing of the series. He followed up his go-ahead grand slam on Friday with a go-ahead solo home run in the seventh inning, turning on a splitter inside and depositing it over the left field wall to break the tie.

With Jonathan Bowlan and Jhoan Duran both unavailable — Bowlan had pitched two nights in a row and Duran pitched two innings Saturday — the Phillies were down their go-to high-leverage bullpen arms. Alex McFarlane, José Alvarado, and Orion Kerkering split the job in relief.

Another late outburst against the Angels bullpen gave the pitching staff some breathing room. Kyle Schwarber began the eighth-inning rally with a walk, before a Turner single and another walk to Alec Bohm loaded the bases.

Luis Arraez pinch-hit for Sosa against right-handed José Fermin, and drove in a run with a sacrifice fly to left field. Brandon Marsh cashed in another run with a pinch-hit single. In the ninth inning, the Phillies tacked on one more with an RBI double from Bryce Harper.

McFarlane recovered from a leadoff walk for a scoreless seventh. Alvarado secured two outs in the eighth, but left two runners on for Kerkering after back-to-back singles.

Kerkering did his job, securing a groundout from the right-handed Siri to end the threat. He returned for the ninth and conceded a run but ended the game with a strikeout.

It ensured that Wheeler was credited with his first win since July 12. He knows one start doesn’t necessarily mean the struggles are completely behind him, but he feels he has taken a step toward getting back to himself.

“He’s close. I’m sure he would tell you the same,” Realmuto said. “He felt closer to it today than he did his last start. And I know he’s working hard on it. We have all the faith in the world.”

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With one month left in the season, the Phillies are jockeying for playoff positioning in the National League. And things are about to heat up with a critical three-game series in Arizona. Diamondbacks general manager Mike Hazen joins Phillies Extra to discuss the wild-card race, the drama involving star second baseman Ketel Marte, and the 2023 NLCS, which left scars in Philadelphia that still haven’t healed. Watch here.

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