WHEEL OF FORTUNE
Zack puzzles Phils for 5, needs luck to escape with win after rough 6th
Zack Wheeler, in second start since surgery, stifles Phillies early and, despite trouble in 6th, escapes with 5-4 victory, his first in 2.5 years.
PHILADELPHIA — Zack Wheeler proved the Mets right. The righthander had looked rusty and anything but ready to pitch in the major leagues in his start on Friday night. After a two-year, setback-filled rehab from Tommy John surgery, Wheeler had looked overmatched in that first start back and made the Mets’ decision to start him in the big leagues look questionable.
Wednesday night, in his second start since September 2014, Wheeler proved the doubters of this plan, including me, wrong and made the Mets look smart for bringing him along. He dominated for five innings in a 5-4 win over the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park.
He got into a zone, mixed in a good slider and decent curveball with a fastball that sat in the mid90s all night that brought back the memories of 2014, when he started to put together talent and pitching savvy. He retired 11 straight batters that made you forget he was gone for two years before running out of gas in the sixth and reminding everyone how far he has had to come.
While his final line — three earned runs on four hits over 5.2 innings — isn’t a thing of beauty, it does not diminish what a huge night this was for Wheeler and the Mets.
“It’s a big weight off my shoulder to be honest,” Wheeler said. “You come back you don’t know if you are going to be throwing as hard, you don’t know if you are going to be able to get guys out, it’s nice to achieve these small goals, small personal goals since the start of spring training. Feels good to get back out there.”
And the fact that Wheeler looked healthy and went deeper into the game, throwing 85 pitches, is a big weight off the shoulder of the Mets, too.
It certainly alleviates second thoughts and criticism about throwing Wheeler right into the fire, facing the major-league hitters after a two-year hiatus. Add that to Matt Harvey looking strong in his start Tuesday and then saying again Wednesday that he no longer feels the tight left hamstring that forced him out in the sixth inning of Tuesday night’s game, gives the Mets some roster flexibility.
With Juan Lagares seemingly healthy after three rehab starts back in Port St. Lucie (a convenient two-hour drive from the Mets’ next stop in Miami) the Mets will be making a roster move possibly as soon as Thursday. With questions about Wheeler’s durability, especially after he only got through four innings in his first start, and initially about Harvey, who had a slow start to spring training but has had a solid progression since, the Mets protected themselves with eight relievers to start the season.
Now, even being down two pitchers, Steven Matz and Seth Lugo, Terry Collins said he has enough confidence in his starters to go with seven relievers instead of eight.
So when Lagares is ready — and with the Mets facing lefthanded pitchers in a ballpark that requires a good defender like Lagares he could be back as soon as Thursday — the Mets are more likely to send down a pitcher and add to their position players.
Collins said the Mets had not had their discussion on the roster move, but it is clear Wheeler’s night gave them some flexibility.
“The fact that all these guys are 100 pitches, I think we can certainly probably go with a pitcher short, one less pitcher,” Collins said. “Now Zack will be at 95-100 the Tnext time out, we could do that.” he Mets were not sure they would be able to make such a move just five days ago. They had no expectations when they decided to put Wheeler in the starting rotation out of spring training. He had forced them to change their plans of leaving him in extended spring when he threw so well in spring training.
“He was one of our five best pitchers,” Mets assistant GM John Ricco said. “It was a decision that we made based on that and also because we didn’t want to stop his forward momentum. He had come so far this spring, we didn’t want to make him wait.”
Wednesday night, Wheeler took another big step forward. He won his first game since September 2014. He showed the critics who said he needed to work his way back to the majors that they were wrong. And he proved the Mets had him right where he belonged.