Wheeler, Harper lead Phillies to two wins for the price of one Originally appeared in NBC Sports Philadelphia
MILWAUKEE — There are few better feelings for a manager in need of a win than writing his ace’s name in the lineup, and there is no ace in baseball over the past five seasons who has performed as consistently and dominantly as Zack Wheeler.
Start after start, month after month, year after year, Wheeler has stepped up when the Phillies have needed him. Sometimes it’s been to stop a skid. Sometimes it’s been to extend a winning streak. Sometimes it’s been to set the tone for a series. Sometimes it’s been to win a series.
“He’s the Cy Young, man,” Bryce Harper said Tuesday night. “I don’t think anybody in baseball is better than him right now. People in Atlanta probably think the same thing about the guy pitching there. I think he got robbed of it three years ago and I think he earned it this year.”
Wheeler led the Phillies to a 5-1 victory on Tuesday, a huge result because it was effectively two wins for the price of one, increasing their lead over the Brewers to five games, four plus the tiebreaker.
The win gave the Phillies the season series against Milwaukee. They are 91-60 and lead the Brewers by five games with 11 remaining, putting them in tremendous position to earn at least a top-two seed and a bye to the first round of the playoffs.
The Phils also won a game against the Dodgers, who surprisingly lost in Miami. They have a three-game lead over the Dodgers for first place in the playoffs (two plus the tiebreaker).
Harper plated Wheeler with an opposite-field, two-run homer off Frankie Montas in the sixth inning of a tie game. It was Harper’s third in four games and 29th of the season.
“He’s been hitting well,” Wheeler said. “He hasn’t hit home runs, but he doesn’t always need to. As long as he gets hits and has good at-bats, the home runs will come. I told him a week ago to keep hitting and doing his thing, the home runs will come.”
Nick Castellanos put the Phils on the board early with a homer to center on the first pitch of the second inning, his 21st of the year. It was a good sign for a player who had hit .178 in his previous 13 games and .114 in September against starting pitchers.
The Brewers were under control for most of the night thanks to Wheeler. He pitched seven one-run inningsHe worked ahead, missed bats, threw his four-seam fastball just above the zone for called strikes and whiffs, froze hitters with two-seam fastballs, induced weak contact… he did all the things he usually does.
It was mid-September and Wheeler hit 97 mph at the end of the victory.
“He probably used his fastball more than any other start this year,” manager Rob Thomson said. “You just saw how he brought it to life, how it went up and down. They hung in there and were really effective. It was a great performance.”
The only inning in which Milwaukee posed a threat was the bottom of the fourth, when William Contreras singled and Garrett Mitchell drove in with one out. Wheeler struck out the next batter, Willy Adames, on three pitches and ended the inning with a flyout to right field.
Wheeler is 16-6 with a 2.56 ERA and 0.95 WHIP in 30 starts. He has allowed the fewest hits and runners on base in the National League. He has struck out 205 and walked 49 in 186⅔ innings. This has been his best regular season as a Phillie.
He’ll likely remain second on the Cy Young list behind Chris Sale, who is 17-3 with a 2.35 ERA and 219 strikeouts, leading the NL in every category. But if Sale gets caught in one or two spots in his final two starts and Wheeler gives the Phillies two more like this, the numbers and the race will even out.
“He’s really something special,” Thomson said. “He’s been very consistent since he came here. He’s earned every penny he’s earned. He’s very important to this club. He just gets on the ball and can rough players up whenever he wants.”
In addition to having Wheeler on the mound, Thomson also knew he was working with a rested bullpen. Matt Strahm hadn’t pitched since last Wednesday, Carlos Estevez and Jeff Hoffman since Saturday and Orion Kerkering since Sunday. They are the Phillies’ top four relievers, all with ERAs between 1.76 and 2.03.
Wheeler turned the ball over to the bullpen with a three-run lead after Kyle Schwarber added insurance in the seventh inning with a single that drove in Edmundo Sosa’s return. Trea Turner drove in another in the top of the ninth with a two-out single after Johan Rojas walked and stole second.
The Phillies are 9-2 this season against the Dodgers and Brewers, the teams with the second- and third-best records. They are 23-10 against the other five teams currently in NL playoff position, and the next-best record is the Padres at 20-20.
“I think when the season is over, it’s over. You just have to move on. The postseason is a little bit different,” Harper said. “It’s different. I’m excited about it. I think every player in this locker room has the same attitude. I know as a team we just want to stay healthy and try to do the job we can.”
Wednesday night offers a chance to win the series and for Aaron Nola to find a rhythm before the playoffs after allowing 11 runs in his last nine innings.
“We needed a win here, no doubt,” Thomson said. “We’ll try to win the series tomorrow. Just getting the tiebreaker against these guys will be critical down the stretch.”
