Wheeler held Pittsburgh to four hits with eight strikeouts as Philadelphia completed a three-game sweep of the Pirates.
Since interim manager Don Mattingly assumed duties for the Philadelphia Phillies, things have actually started to click for the club. Their most recent victory was a three-game sweep over the Pittsburgh Pirates headlined by Zack Wheeler’s strong seven innings and Bryce Harper’s homer off Pirates ace Paul Skenes that capped things off with a 6-0 win. That improves the Phillies to 15-4 under Mattingly, and the team now sits at 24-23, above .500 for the first time since April 7.
Though he missed Saturday’s result due to his son’s graduation, acting manager Dusty Wathan stepped in to lead the 6-0 result. It was largely thanks to Wheeler, who is 3-0 on the year and had four runs, eight strikeouts, and one walk in seven innings pitched, which has his ERA now at 1.99. Wheeler has gone 16-5 since being activated on April 25 – mirroring a team improvement – after beginning the season on the injured list while recovering from a blood clot surgery on his upper right arm.
Harper notched his 12th home run of the season leading off the sixth, and Skenes eventually exited after Alec Bohm’s single and Brandon Marsh’s double. Skenes tied a career high in the loss, allowing five runs in five or more innings to end a 20-innign scoreless streak.
To read more about the major victory and what the strategy was to stifle Skenes, here is the full story from Phillies Roundtable writer Jon Conahan.
Philadelphia has won seven of its last eight games but still sit eight games back in the NL East behind the leading Atlanta Braves. But after sitting at 8-18 on April 25, things have changed a lot between Mattingly stepping into leadership and Wheeler returning on a 16-5 streak.
