ST. LOUIS — The first two Cardinals hitters were fooled on curveballs in the dirt, and the third was late on a fastball upstairs.
Early Wednesday afternoon, Zack Wheeler looked back to form.
The Phillies right-hander was coming off a stretch of uncharacteristic starts marred by inconsistent command. He gave up five runs in Miami and four runs against Toronto, with a rain-shortened two-inning outing in Baltimore in between. Striking out the side to start the game in St. Louis looked like a positive sign.
But by the fifth inning, Wheeler’s command started to look spotty again. Four consecutive two-out hits snowballed into four runs in Phillies’ 7-1 loss to the Cardinals, Wheeler’s second loss in as many starts. His ERA since the All-Star break is 6.04.
“It looks like he might be fighting his mechanics a little bit,” said catcher J.T. Realmuto. “Just his command. You can tell, usually when he’s feeling right, his fastball command is pretty spot on, and he’s able to work in and out, up, down, and not miss a lot of locations. I feel like recently, it’s just been a little more erratic at times, just some bigger misses than you are used to seeing from him.”
Wheeler’s velocity was down from his average this season across all his pitches, but he wasn’t concerned about that. He said physically his body feels fine, but overall he is just not quite himself.
“Just a little out of whack right now, so just got to get that figured out,” Wheeler said. “Dig in, and see what’s going on, get that figured out. Just come back being better, more sharp.”
Scott Kane
Wheeler was unable to pinpoint whether it is an issue with his mechanics, his stuff, or something else. From Realmuto’s perspective behind the plate, though, he thinks Wheeler’s stuff is as good as ever.
His defense didn’t do him many favors, either.
The Cardinals scored an unearned run in the second inning following an error from Alec Bohm. A ground ball hit right at the first baseman deflected away, and he wasn’t able to recover in time to make the out on Jordan Walker. The Cardinals outfielder stole second base and then scored after Wheeler allowed a double to Nathan Church.
But Wheeler limited the damage there until the fifth. The parade of two-out hits started with a single from JJ Wetherholt that got past Bohm. He was holding a runner at first and wasn’t able to close the gap in time on the hard-hit chopper.
Another single and consecutive doubles broke the game open for the Cardinals, and Wheeler didn’t return for the sixth after just 84 pitches. But 35 of those had come in the fifth, and interim manager Don Mattingly was trying to be cautious with the right-hander after he threw 115 pitches in his previous start.
“I think they’re just helping me out just because the high pitch count last game,” Wheeler said. “I mean, I was a little frustrated, wanted to go back out, but [Mattingly’s] just looking out for me, so it’s probably the best thing.”
The Phillies’ bullpen was much closer to full strength Wednesday than it was to start the series. Two more runs scored in the seventh charged to José Alvarado. His command was erratic again as he walked three.
The Phillies hit into two double plays on Wednesday after grounding into four the night prior. They also racked up eight strikeouts, burning both their automated ball-strike challenges by the third inning after Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber incorrectly challenged strike calls.
It went on to hurt the team later in the game. Realmuto said there were about three instances where he would have challenged if the Phillies had any remaining. He had already overturned two ball calls on Wheeler in the first and second inning, helping both at-bats turn into strikeouts.
“We didn’t get a lot going today,” Mattingly said. “I mean, we didn’t do enough to win the game today. You get one run, it’s hard to say you deserve to win the game.”
That lone run came in the fourth inning on back-to-back doubles from Harper and Luis Arraez. The second baseman connected on a curveball over the middle of the plate, hooking it just inside the right field line. It bounced into the stands for a ground-rule double, giving Arraez his first hit in his last 17 plate appearances.
While it spoiled the shutout, it didn’t exactly break Arraez out of his slump. He grounded into a double play in his next plate appearance and then flew out in the ninth inning.
Harper looked to be in some discomfort in his final at-bat in the ninth, which ended in a walk. He has been dealing with by knee soreness that primarily bothers him when he decelerates while running, but he said postgame that wasn’t what was affecting him in that moment.
“I was fine. I was just trying to take a minute,” Harper said. “Took two really bad swings, so yeah, needed to keep my composure a little bit. I was good.”
Since the All-Star break, the Phillies have dropped six of eight series. Their two losses to the Cardinals sting all the more considering the fact they had their two aces — Cristopher Sánchez and Wheeler — on the mound for them.
The front end of the rotation is supposed to be the Phillies’ trump card. But it can’t be when the offense scores just one run over the last 19 innings.
“We’re not going to get any of those eight series back, so there’s no way to look at it other than go forward,” Mattingly said. “Kind of simple as that.”
The Phillies will head to Iowa on Thursday morning to take on the Twins in MLB’s Field of Dreams game. But what is supposed to be a celebration of the game of baseball and the iconic 1989 film will have a shadow over it as the Phillies seek to right the ship.
“Nobody in here is happy about the brand of baseball we’re playing right now,” Realmuto said.
