Phillies sweep Rays to reach season-high 30 games over .500

Phillies sweep Rays to reach season-high 30 games over .500 originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

He wasn’t in the starting lineup Wednesday when he showed up to the ballpark, yet a few hours later, birthday boy Weston Wilson delivered for the Phillies with a dribbler down the third-base line that won them a game and completed a sweep.

Wilson started at third base after Kyle Schwarber was scratched from the initial lineup with the elbow contusion he suffered Tuesday night. Bryce Harper moved to DH and Kody Clemens slid across the diamond to first base. Batting with two outs and runners on the corners in the sixth inning of a tie game, Wilson made soft contact on a 97 mph sinker in on his hands and it reached no man’s land between the mound and third base. He beat out the infield single and the Phillies beat the Rays, 3-2.

The Phils have won nine of 11 games, 14 of their last 18, and at 88-58 are farther over .500 than they’ve been all season.

By retaking the lead in the bottom of the sixth, the Phillies’ offense helped Zack Wheeler to his 15th win. Wheeler is 15-6 with a 2.60 ERA and National League-best 0.97 WHIP through 29 starts.

The Phillies’ ace has, at most, three more starts in the regular season but the final one lines up for Game 161 or 162, which would be meaningless if the Phillies clinch their playoff position prior. If they do, Wheeler is more likely to make an abbreviated start that final weekend.

Unfortunately for Wheeler, it could be another Cy Young runner-up season, just like 2021 when he lost out to Corbin Burnes despite pitching 46 more innings. Chris Sale (16-3, 2.38) has been every bit as dominant as Wheeler, going 16 straight starts without allowing more than two runs. He also has the lifetime achievement narrative on his side as a 35-year-old who finished in the top five of Cy Young voting six straight seasons from 2013-18 without ever winning one. Wheeler will need Sale to get lit up to jump him in the race.

Both Sale and Wheeler should also receive mid-ballot MVP votes. Shohei Ohtani, Francisco Lindor and Marcell Ozuna will likely finish 1-2-3 but the whole field is open beyond them, and both starting pitchers rank inside the Top 10 in the National League in Wins Above Replacement (hitters included).

Nick Castellanos staked the Phillies to an early lead with a two-run homer in the bottom of the first, his 20th. A few hours earlier, Rays manager Kevin Cash walked over to him during batting practice to apologize for Edwin Uceta intentionally hitting him with a pitch after the Phillies scored five runs on Uceta in the eighth inning Tuesday night. Uceta was suspended three games by MLB and immediately began serving it Wednesday. Castellanos was hit again in the eighth inning Wednesday by Rays reliever Kevin Kelly but there didn’t appear to be any intent and there was no more drama.

Pitching with the early lead built by Castellanos, Wheeler wiggled his way out of trouble in the second, third and fourth innings.

Eight of his first nine pitches in the second were outside the strike zone, leading to two walks and a run. He nearly got through the inning without allowing a run but nine-hole hitter Taylor Walls singled one in with two outs. Wheeler then allowed a leadoff triple and leadoff double in the third and fourth but neither scored, nor did Brandon Lowe after a one-out walk in the fifth.

Bryson Stott had a lot to do with that. He made a quick transition from glove to throwing hand to nail Jonathan Aranda at the plate with one out and the infield in during the fourth inning. Everything about the play was textbook and Stott needed to be as efficient as he was because Aranda still nearly beat the tag. Aranda gave Wheeler more trouble than anyone else Wednesday, walking, doubling and homering. Carlos Estevez retired him on one pitch to start the top of the ninth.

Matt Strahm pitched a scoreless seventh inning, lowering his ERA to 2.06. Jose Alvarado made his third straight 1-2-3 appearance and has gone seven in a row without allowing a run. He’s trending up at an important time in a bullpen that already has four others — Strahm, Jeff Hoffman, Orion Kerkering and Estevez — pitching lights-out.

The Phillies are off Thursday and should have both Schwarber and J.T. Realmuto back Friday to begin a three-game home series against the Mets, who have moved a half-game ahead of the Braves for the final NL wild-card spot. The Phils play the Mets seven times in their final 16 games and all of them will be huge.