Wheeler K’s 9 in 7 shutout innings, Phillies top Padres 3-0
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Zack Wheeler watched Eric Hosmer give a 96 mph fastball a ride to about the warning track at Citizens Bank Park and thought for sure the ball was gone.
Not with the way Wheeler has been throwing. Right fielder Nick Castellanos chased the ball down for an out in the seventh inning.
Hosmer smiled at Wheeler as he jogged back to the dugout. The Phillies’ ace got away with one in perhaps his finest outing this season.
Wheeler struck out a season-high nine over seven shutout innings, Rhys Hoskins homered and Philadelphia beat the San Diego Padres 3-0 on Wednesday night.
Wheeler (2-3), who lost his first three starts of the season, had yet another outing more in line with the ones that helped him finish second in NL Cy Young Award voting last season. He allowed four hits and walked none over 94 pitches.
“Still got a little bit to work on,” Wheeler said.
He sure doesn’t pitch like there’s much more to improve.
Wheeler tossed six shutout innings against Colorado on April 28 for his first win this year and followed that with 7 2/3 scoreless innings against Texas on May 4. The lanky right-hander has a 1.04 ERA over his last four starts and has seemingly recovered from a recent bout with COVID-19 and right shoulder soreness that plagued him in spring training.
Manger Joe Girardi said Wheeler is about back to last season’s form.
“He’s pretty close. Had he not had the COVID IL, I think he probably would have been there,” Girardi said. “I think we were a little bit still cautious today.”
Jose Alvarado worked the eighth and Corey Knebel earned his eighth save.
The Phillies won without NL MVP Bryce Harper in the lineup. Harper could return Thursday against the Padres as he recovers from a platelet-rich plasma injection in his right elbow.
Slumping catcher J.T. Realmuto picked up the slack. He threw out a runner at third base from foul territory, snapped an 0-for-13 skid with an RBI single, and took a foul ball off his mask.
And that was all by the third inning.
Realmuto and Hoskins helped spoil Blake Snell’s first start of the season in his return from a groin injury. The 2018 AL Cy Young Award winner with the Rays, Snell (0-1) was slated to start San Diego’s fourth game this year.