Wheeler struggles, bats quiet again as Phillies lose Game 1 of DH to Mets originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
The Phillies’ inability to score runs with any consistency continued to be a big problem as they suffered yet another loss to the New York Mets in the first game of a doubleheader Saturday afternoon at Citizens Bank Park.
Zack Wheeler could not hold the Mets back for the second time in less than a week and the Phillies were left holding an 8-2 defeat.
It was the Phillies’ third straight loss and sixth in the last nine games as they try to hold on to the second NL wild-card spot with San Diego and Milwaukee on their heels. Four of the six losses in this skid have come against the Mets, who have done a job on the Phillies in 2022.
The Phils are 4-13 against the Mets, heading into the second game of the doubleheader Saturday night. Bailey Falter is scheduled to start against David Peterson in a match of left-handers.
The two teams will conclude their season series on Sunday and the Phillies will be grateful for that. They are 61-41 against teams other than the Mets.
Amazingly, the Phillies went 0-9 against the Mets in games started by Wheeler and Aaron Nola this season.
That calls for a “Hard to believe, Harry.”
“I don’t know what to tell you about that,” manager Rob Thomson said. “I wish we had a few wins in there.”
Wheeler has lost two straight outings to the Mets, giving up 10 runs over 11 1/3 innings.
“It’s kind of frustrating because I’ve given up a bunch of bloop hits and basically a couple of hard-hit balls the last two games and that’s it,” Wheeler said. “I’ve made my pitches and they’re getting a lot of cheap hits, but that’s part of baseball sometimes.”
The Phillies’ offense has not scored a run while Wheeler has been in the game his last two starts.
Over the last nine games, the Phillies have averaged just 2.3 runs. They have gone homerless in nine of their last 10 games.
The Phils scored their first run Saturday afternoon on a pair of hits and a sacrifice fly in the sixth inning. By that time, the Mets had a 4-0 lead. The Phils did not score again until the Mets’ defense gave them a run in the bottom of the ninth.
The Mets had a 5-0 lead by the time the Phils scored their only runs in a 7-2 loss Friday night.
Prior to Saturday, Wheeler had a 2.17 ERA in 15 starts this season at night. He had a 4.82 ERA in seven daytime starts. Manager Rob Thomson gave Wheeler the choice of which game of the doubleheader he wanted to start and the pitcher chose to work with the sun shining.
Wheeler battled command issues throughout his 5 1/3 innings. He matched a season-high with four walks and his strikes-to-balls ratio of 58/48 was not good. Some of that may have been a product of umpire Alan Porter’s strike zone.
“It was one of those days where it was kind of iffy back there,” Wheeler said. “But I still have to make my pitches.”
Wheeler made pitches when he had to and got out of trouble a couple times in the first four innings. He was hurt by the bottom half of the Mets’ batting order in the fifth. Jeff McNeil singled to right, Tyler Naquin walked on four pitches and both scored on a soft liner to right by No. 9 hitter Michael Perez.
The walk to Naquin in the fifth was killer as he was 0 for his previous 17 and had struck out six straight times before the walk. Perez hit a 1-1 cutter. He had been 0 for 19 before the hit.
Wheeler walked two more batters in the sixth and allowed an RBI triple to Francisco Lindor and an RBI single to McNeil.
The Mets’ rallies in the fifth and sixth innings turned Citizens Bank Park into Citi Field on the Delaware as day-tripping fans from up the Turnpike took over the Phillies’ home park. Mets fans got louder and louder as the day went on. Their team rallied for three more runs in the top of the ninth inning and the Phillies were forced to use position player Darick Hall to get the final out of the frame.
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