When your ace falters, you need to pick him up…
Most of the time, Zack Wheeler is going to be really good when he steps on a mound.
Most of the time, he’s going to dominate a team as offensively feeble as the Marlins.
Most of the time, you’d expect the Phillies to sweep a series like this, beating up on inferior opponents.
This game was not most of the time.
Staked to a 3-0 lead in the second inning thanks to the continued resurgence of one Nick Castellanos, Wheeler was unable to hold the lead for the Phillies, giving it back and putting the team down one early in the game. The Castellanos home run in the first inning was particularly surprising, but coming into the game, he was hitting .316/.381/.553 since April 30.
It’s been nice to see that Castellanos has started to bounce back from the horrific start he had to the 2024 season, balancing out the fact that Brandon Marsh has started to go cold.
In the second though, after a dominating first inning, Wheeler began to struggle. A leadoff walk to Josh Bell, followed by a stolen base, put a runner in scoring position with no one out. Jesus Sanchez hit a ground rule double that plated the first run for Miami, but, after allowing a two out walk to Otto Lopez, Wheeler escaped with further damage avoided. The third inning was a different story. Jazz Chisholm doubled, Bryan de la Cruz walked and the Marlins had two runners on with no one out to start the inning. A forceout by Jake Burger got one out, but the old Phillies nemesis Bell stepped up and delivered for Miami.
In the fourth, Miami tacked on three more thanks to a hit by pitch and a single to put runners on the corners, a safety squeeze for the first run, a triple by Chisholm for the sixth run and after getting out of it to end the fourth, the end of the game for Zack Wheeler.
It was a disappointing day for Wheeler, but he didn’t factor in the decision thanks to a Phillies offense that decided, hey, this is the Marlins.
Bryce Harper singled to start the sixth inning, Bryson Stott walked with one out and Edmundo Sosa stepped to the plate. Facing Andrew Nardi, Sosa found a pitch to his liking and tripled in both runners, cutting the lead to one.
