PHILADELPHIA — Conditions at Citizens Bank Park on Saturday afternoon were far from ideal for baseball.
Winds were blowing consistently around 20 mph, with gusts nearly twice that strong, while fog continued to fall on and off during the game. But the rain stopped just long enough for the Phillies to win 7-5 against the Mets, potentially creating a clinching scenario in Sunday’s series finale.
Bryce Harper hit a missile into the wind to hit his 20th home run of the season, and then Alec Bohm added his 19th, and it seemed like an adventure no matter what the pitch was.
But avoiding a postponement was important not only to inching closer to a postseason berth, but also for Zack Wheeler’s pitching schedule. By starting as scheduled on Saturday, Wheeler will next pitch on Thursday against the Pirates on regular rest and potentially be in line to start Game 1 of the National League Wild Card Series. He usually remains on rest.
“Yeah, I mean, it’s always good to be in the game,” manager Rob Thomson said. “But it helps us a little bit. We could always move things around, but being able to play today definitely helped.”
Delaying Wheeler’s start until Sunday would have forced the Phillies to make a difficult decision. Assuming they want to use Wheeler in Game 1, they can either skip this turn to accommodate their schedule for Thursday and the postseason opener after that, or start him on Sunday and take a long layoff before Game 1. They would have needed to give him a 2019 win or start him. He played games on Sunday and Thursday, then took a short rest in preparation for Game 1.
“Anytime you can get your best guys ready to perform, that’s a good thing,” Harper said. “Especially in three games. [series] It’s huge for us to always be able to have our No. 1 player out no matter who we’re playing.”
Obviously, neither of these options would have been as favorable, especially considering what Wheeler did on his regular rest this season.
Entering Saturday, Wheeler started nine games this season with four days of rest, posting a record of 5 wins, 1 loss, 1.86 ERA, and 0.86 WHIP. He started 21 games after missing more than five days, posting a 7-5 record with a 4.46 ERA and 1.16 WHIP.
“At this point, we want to stay on schedule for the most part,” Wheeler said. “Just so we don’t have to mess up the rotation a little bit or cram games or anything like that. So just take it one game at a time and just win.”
Wheeler was given up five runs (three earned) in seven innings on Saturday, but that line is a bit misleading. After allowing two unearned runs in the second inning on a Trea Turner error, Wheeler was marked for three runs in the seventh inning, all on a line drive missed by elite center fielder Johan Rojas that went over his head. It was something like that. A flag flies behind him.
“I thought he pitched well,” Thomson said. “Look at that seventh inning, he allowed three runs. It was a couple of balls that weren’t hit very hard as walks, and then Rojas misread them.” …But it was very It’s a difficult play. ”
Despite the break, Wheeler is hitting his stride at the perfect time. He has pitched at least six innings in 13 of his past 14 starts, allowing three or fewer earned runs in 12 of those innings.
Wheeler has posted a 3.12 ERA since the All-Star break after posting a 4.05 ERA in the first half.
“I feel good,” Wheeler said. “Personally, I feel good and healthy. I feel comfortable, so I’m just going to keep doing that.”
And remember, this time last year, Wheeler was coming off a late-season IL stint due to right forearm tendinitis and was in a race against time just to get his body ready for the postseason. I’m saying that. Needless to say, the Phillies were fighting just to earn a postseason berth, something they didn’t do until the final regular-season series in Houston.
Things could be even better for Wheeler and the Phils this year.
“Last year was a little bit closer than we would have liked,” Wheeler said. “So we’re going to try to win as many games as we can and take care of what we need to do and control what we can control.”
