After starting with three no-hit innings, Zack Wheeler’s outing against the Royals fell apart quickly. He gave up four runs to the MLB’s 27th ranked offense, but the Mets’ 11 run explosion bailed out New York’s right-hander.
Wheeler threw five innings while surrendering four runs – three earned – on four hits. He walked one batter and struck out two on the day. The start raised his ERA to 4.40 for the season.
The first three innings looked great for the 29-year-old, as he struck out Whit Merrifield to start the day. He then forced seven batters to hit balls right at his defense for some speedy outs, but then his start got away from him.
“…A couple bloopers dropped in,” Wheeler said to reporters. “I messed up a play at first I should’ve made, and it just took off from there and I couldn’t stop it.”
In the fifth inning, back-to-back singles from Bubba Starling and Brett Phillips greeted Wheeler. With two men on base and nobody out, Nick Dini bunted to advance the runners, but Wheeler botched the play with a throwing error to load the bases. Merrifield singled in a run to cut the Mets lead to 3-2. A ground out and sacrifice fly to followed, which gave the Royals a 4-3 lead over the Mets.
“I thought he battled hard,” Callaway said to reporters. “All three of our starters were lights out early, and then you don’t know if it’s the heat, the humidity, and then they get taxed a bit through the middle innings.”
Thankfully, the blown lead was a wake up call to the Mets offense and they went off on the Royals’ relief pitchers. The Mets combined for a six-run seventh inning and tacked on two more in the eighth and ninth inning to win the game 11-5. Evidently, the rocky start for their pitcher was erased with the help of Amed Rosario, Joe Panik, Pete Alonso, and Michael Conforto who went a combined 11-for-18, with nine RBIs, and seven runs scored on the day.
Wheeler mentioned to reporters that he felt “off” mechanically in his last two starts, having thrown to an ERA just above seven in those outings. He explained that he would work to correct the issue by looking at video and seeing where the problem(s) lie before his next outing, which should be against the Braves.
Through 149.1 innings pitched this season, Wheeler owns a 3.52 FIP and 3.93 xFIP, despite his 4.40 ERA. He also has a 9.22 K/9 and 2.29 BB/9, which are both the best marks of his career.
