PHILADELPHIA — Zack Wheeler has not looked like Zack Wheeler of late. In his first two outings of the regular season he was unable to pitch past the fifth inning. His velocity was down, which isn’t ideal for a power pitcher who relies primarily on his fastball. The Zack Wheeler that fans are used to seeing can hit 98 mph, 99 mph, or even 100 mph, and do it with control. He can pitch well — and deep — into games. Those two outings were not the Zack Wheeler fans were used to seeing.
So, given that context, Saturday’s game — which the Phillies ended up losing, 5-3, to the Brewers — was an important one for the right-handed pitcher. After a shortened spring training, that was shortened even more after he had a bout with the flu, Wheeler is still in the process of ramping up, which could be why his velocity was down. But Saturday would have been his fifth spring training start — which means that we should be seeing something close to the normal Zack Wheeler, soon. On Saturday, we did.
Wheeler averaged 95.9 mph on the radar gun against the Brewers, after averaging 94.5 mph in his start last week. He mostly cruised through his first four innings of work, allowing two hits and no runs with three strikeouts over that span.
In the fifth inning, he ran into some trouble, but it wasn’t all on him. Kyle Schwarber made a throw from left field that fell way short, bouncing to J.T. Realmuto after Lorenzo Cain reached home plate, and Willy Adames stole home as Christian Yelich stole second base.
For the most part, Wheeler was not allowing hard contact. He didn’t allow any walks, and was able to make it deeper into his start on Saturday than he was in his first two outings. His final was five innings pitched, seven hits, four earned runs, and five strikeouts. It’s not the Zack Wheeler fans are used to seeing, but he’s getting close.
Phillies score early, but don’t score enough
The Phillies put some runs on the board early on Saturday, but not enough to account for the Brewers’ four-run fifth inning. A Nick Castellanos RBI double scored Bryce Harper in the first inning, and a Jean Segura RBI single and a Castellanos sacrifice fly gave the Phillies a 3-0 lead entering the fourth inning.
But the Phillies weren’t able to build any momentum past the fourth inning, and certainly weren’t able to build any in the eighth and the ninth inning, when they were facing Devin Williams and Josh Hader.
The Phillies’ offense finished their night with seven hits, three runs and just one walk.
