Phillies slaughter Marlins, Wheeler bolsters Cy Young resume

Phillies slaughter Marlins, Wheeler bolsters Cy Young resume originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

MIAMI — Rob Thomson doesn’t have a vote for the National League Cy Young Award. That’s a privilege extended only to working members of the Baseball Writers Association of America. Which is probably best for the integrity of the process because the Phillies manager is hardly a neutral observer.

“There’s been a bunch of pitchers who have had good years,” he said Friday at loanDepot Park. “But Zack Wheeler, to me — and I’m obviously biased — has been so consistent over the years I’ve been here. His ability to come through in big games. Not just playoff games. When we’ve needed a win, or we needed to get a lot of innings to help the bullpen out, he’s done it. He’s done it every time.”

Not every time, maybe, but consistently enough that the conventional wisdom at the moment is that there are two top contenders for that particular piece of hardware, neck-and-neck, coming around the final turn and into the home stretch: Wheeler and Atlanta’s Chris Sale.

Sale might hold a razor-thin edge at the moment but there are three weeks and change left in the season and anything can still happen.

Wheeler continued to make his case Friday night in the Phillies’ 16-2 win over the Marlins. He allowed just two soft hits in six innings, striking out seven with one walk.

“He looked like he was on cruise control out there,” said shortstop Trea Turner.

The only run Wheeler allowed came in the fourth on an infield hit by Connor Norby, a walk to Jake Burger and a two-out grounder up the middle by Otto Lopez that caromed off second base and rolled into left for one of the stranger doubles you’ll ever see.

“He could have gone more,” Thomson said. “But I thought it was kind of silly to run him out for a seventh inning with that big of a lead.”

Wheeler’s now 14-6 with a 2.59 ERA in 28 starts. His WHIP is 0.96 and opponents are hitting .193 against him. He’s pitched 173⅔ innings, striking out 190.

Sale, whose next scheduled turn is against the Blue Jays on Sunday, is 16-3, 2.46 in 26 starts. His WHIP is 1.01 with a .218 opponent’s batting average. He’s struck out 206 in 160⅔ innings.

“It (winning a Cy Young) would mean a lot,” said Wheeler, who was edged out for the honor by Corbin Burns in 2021. “There’s some good competition that I’m going up against. At the same time, I’m just going out there trying to put up zeroes and hope for the best. And that’s all I can do. So I’m just going out there to compete every time and hopefully put our team in a spot to win.”

The Phillies have now won six straight and 11 of their last 13. They lead the second-place Braves and Mets in the National League East by 8 games. Their magic number is 14.

Less than two hours before the first pitch, the Marlins announced a pitching change. Their scheduled starter, righthander Edward Cabrera, had been scratched with “migraine-like symptoms.” Lefty Austin Kitchen got the ball instead.

That, uh, didn’t work out so well.

Five of the first six batters he faced in the top of the first reached base: Kyle Schwarber on a throwing error by first baseman Burger, Turner and Bryson Stott on grounders that barely eluded the glove of shortstop Xavier Edwards; J.T. Realmuto on a grounder that third baseman Norby couldn’t quite corral and a clean single by Bryce Harper.

Three scored.

In the second, it was more of the same. A double by Johan Rojas, an RBI single by Schwarber, a two-run homer by Turner, another double by Harper and a two-out base hit by Realmuto.

Four more scored. Or, to put it another way, in the middle of the second inning, the Marlins were only a run away from being allowed to use a position player to pitch because the score was so out of hand with 21 outs still to go.

That meant Wheeler had to work to stay in rhythm early.

“Those types of games are tough, but at the same time you’ve got to pitch and do well and figure it out,” he said. “I was just throwing the ball against the wall a few times. A little work with the weighted ball trying to stay loose. But I’ll take all the run support I can get.”

Before it was over, every Phillies position player got into the game. Every starter had a hit, including three each for Turner, Harper, Kody Clemens and Rojas. Turner and Schwarber homered. The 16 runs were the most the Phillies have scored all season, eclipsing the 14 they put up against the Giants on May 4.

And, yes, outfielder David Hensley made his pitching debut and mopped up the last two innings for the Marlins.

NEXT MAN DOWN

Realmuto left Friday night’s game in the fourth inning after fouling a pitch off his left knee in his previous at-bat. It was announced that he had suffered a contusion and would undergo further evaluation.

“He’s fine,” Thomson said postgame. “We’ll check him out (Saturday) but Stubby (Garrett Stubbs) was starting anyway. That was planned.”

That came hours after the announcement that third baseman Alec Bohm had been placed on the injured list with a strained left hand and a day after outfielder Austin Hays went on the IL with a kidney infection.

UP NEXT

The Marlins series continues Saturday with Phillies RHP Aaron Nola (12-6, 3.29) facing RHP Darren McCaughan (0-0, 8.74) at 4:10 p.m. and RHP Seth Johnson (making his major-league debut) vs. RHP Max Meyer (3-5, 5.68) in Sunday’s 1:40 p.m. finale.