ATLANTA — Phillies starter Zack Wheeler was cruising until the sixth inning against the Braves in Game 2 of the National League Division Series on Wednesday night. After allowing one base runner through his first five, on just 50 pitches, Wheeler struck out Marcell Ozuna, induced a lineout from Eddie Rosario, but then hit Ronald Acuña Jr. with a slider.
Acuña was checked out by the trainers for several minutes. Boos, coming from a sold-out crowd that returned to Truist Park after a two-hour, 53-minute rain delay, poured down on Wheeler. While Acuña was leading off first base, Wheeler threw over to Rhys Hoskins to try to pick him off. More boos poured down.
It all unraveled after that as the Braves evened the series 1-1 with a 3-0 victory over the Phillies. Wheeler walked Dansby Swanson to put runners on first and second. Matt Olson hit a single to right field that whizzed past first baseman Rhys Hoskins, who missed it in between hops. Acuña scored.
In the next at-bat, Austin Riley hit a dribbler towards the mound that Wheeler was unable to field. That gave the Braves a 2-0 lead. And a third RBI single, hit by Travis d’Arnaud, made it 3-0, before Wheeler ended the inning by inducing a groundout from Michael Harris II.
It was an uncharacteristic showing from Wheeler, who tends not to rattle easily, no matter the situation. Wednesday marked just his second career postseason start, but he looked locked in in Game 1 of the NL wild-card series, when he allowed one walk, two hits and no runs in 6⅓ innings against the Cardinals.
Until that pitch hit Acuña, it looked like Wheeler was about to deliver an even better performance, one that the Phillies badly needed, after a short 3⅓-inning outing from Ranger Suárez in Game 1 on Tuesday. Instead, Wheeler exited with a line few expected to see from the Phillies’ ace: six innings, four hits, three earned runs, and one walk with five strikeouts.
Going through different hypotheticals would be enough to drive a sane person crazy, but it is hard to not wonder how the game would’ve turned out if Hoskins had made that play. The inning would have been over, and still scoreless. Wheeler would have walked off the mound at 69 pitches, and manager Rob Thomson wouldn’t have had to dip into his bullpen earlier than he expected.
But of course, that didn’t happen. And the Phillies will have to live with that reality.
Bats remain quiet
Wednesday’s 3-0 loss can’t just be chalked up to Hoskins and Wheeler’s nightmare-ish sixth inning. After an offensive shelling in Game 1 on Tuesday, the Phillies were shut out on Wednesday. The top of the lineup is not contributing. No. 1 hitter Kyle Schwarber and No. 2 hitter Hoskins, after Wednesday night, are hitting a combined 1-for-34 over these four postseason games, at the worst possible time.
For most of the season, the Phillies have been able to lean on their unsung heroes, like Bryson Stott, Edmundo Sosa and Matt Vierling. But those guys can’t step up every night. And if the Phillies want to turn this series around, they’re going to have to. The Phillies finished their night with three hits.
