Phillies ace Zack Wheeler shuts down Mariners with 8 scoreless innings
Given how the Mariners’ first seven innings transpired against Zack Wheeler – a collection of plate appearances that featured so many swings and misses, weak contract, two measly hits and zero runs – their best chance for victory was hoping the Phillies’ All-Star starter might finally make a mistake or at least not pitch a complete game.
Trailing by one run since the first batter of the game, the Mariners were one misplaced pitch and one good swing away from at least tying the game, though neither had occurred in the overwhelming Sunday afternoon sunshine at T-Mobile Park.
But that fading hope of a late rally, let alone victory, expired in the eighth inning when the Mariners bullpen surrendered a barrage of homers and the one-run deficit Seattle needed to overcome turned to into an eventual 6-0 loss to the Phillies.
The Mariners, who came into the game averaging over seven runs per game in their last 10 games, were held scoreless for the seventh time this season and the first time since July 19.
“For me, really good series against a good team,” manager Scott Servais said. “Very competitive. We did a lot of good things offensively the last couple nights. When you look at the matchup coming in to today’s game, you know it’s gonna be a low-scoring game, and you’ve got to figure out a way. And we just weren’t able to solve Zack Wheeler, like a lot of teams can’t solve Zack Wheeler.”
With Seattle trailing 1-0, Yimi Garcia, pitching on back-to-back days, started the top of the eighth and allowed a leadoff homer to Bryson Stott despite being up 0-2 in the count. Garcia tried to put Stott away with a high fastball, but fired three of them well above the zone. His fourth fastball stayed in the middle of the plate and was hammered by Stott for his eighth homer of the season.
Garcia retired Austin Hays and Kyle Schwarber, but couldn’t get the third out of the inning. He walked Trea Turner to bring Bryce Harper to the plate.
The former NL MVP had come into the series in a prolonged slump with just two hits in his last 41 plate appearances. But Harper had two hits already in the game. Servais went to his only lefty in the bullpen, Tayler Saucedo, to face Harper.
The lefty -vs. -lefty matchup outweighed Saucedo’s recent struggles, which included base runners allowed in each of his last four outings, three runs allowed on two hits on Tuesday in Boston and a run on two hits on Saturday.
“Sauce was able to get Harper out last night on a pop up,” Servais said. “Outside of (Andres Munoz), it was the best matchup for Harper on our card.”
While Harper has a .298/.396/.550 slash line vs. lefties this season, much of that production came in a ridiculous June where he posted a .405/.476/.892 slash line in 42 plate appearances. Since July 1, he’s posted a .222/.364/.278 slash line in 22 plate appearances with three singles, a double and three RBIs. The Mariners played the matchup.
But Saucedo’s struggles continued. He hung a 1-1 slider that was smashed into the right field seats for a two-run homer. It was Harpers’ first homer off a lefty since June 24.
“Sauce has thrown a lot for us,” Servais said. “He pitched in all the games in Boston. He had a couple games here, and he’ll continue to pitch for us. He’s just got to get back into what he does really well – the sinker/slider combo and working back and forth off those.”
Saucedo’s next pitch – a low slider – was ambushed by Alec Bohm for a solo homer to left. When left-handed hitting Brandon Marsh singled to right, Saucedo’s outing was over.
Trent Thornton, the third pitcher of the inning, allowed a single to J.T. Realmuto that scored Marsh to make it 6-0.
Though he didn’t need to, Wheeler pitched the eighth inning, retiring the side in order. His final line: eight scoreless innings, two hits allowed with one walk and nine strikeouts to improve to 11-5 on the season.
“He has an elite fastball,” Servais said. “It’s much in the same bucket as our young guy, Bryan Woo. It comes out of a different slot. He’s able to sink it, ride it. So even though on the radar gun it may say it’s 94-95 mph, it’s playing up to 98-99 mph. We talked about it ahead of the game with our hitters. You really have to be on it and be on top of it, because the ride it does have. But he has the secondary pitches to go along with it. He threw a lot of good cutters, saw the slider come into play.”
The Phillies improved to 28-1 when their starter pitches at least seven complete innings. It was the 10th time Wheeler had pitched seven or more innings, and Philly is 9-1 in those games.
Seattle starter Logan Gilbert delivered a strong outing after struggling in his previous start in Boston. He pitched six innings, allowing one run on four hits with a walk and seven strikeouts. It was his 18th quality start of the season.
“I felt good today, for sure,” he said. “But I mean, it would have been pretty sweet to finish off the series with a win, get the sweep, especially against that team. They’re really good. It was a good getting the series win, but it’s tough losing today.”
Gilbert’s lone run came on the third pitch of the game. He fell behind Schwarber 2-0 and threw a fastball in the zone that was crushed off the windows of the old Hit It Here Cafe.
His pitch count got sapped by a 15-pitch battle with Nick Castellanos in the second inning that resulted in a ground out. It was the most pitches in one plate appearance this season in MLB.
“It was almost funny,” Gilbert said. “After like the 14th pitch, I almost started laughing, because it was unreal. He’s such competitor. Their whole lineup is fun to pitch against, but when something like that happens, you don’t want to give in. That one meant a little more, trying to get the out and not the walk.”