It was a full-on Zack Attack from Wheeler yesterday. Zack Wheeler went seven innings, gave up no runs, and struck out 11.
In the first, he struck out Bryce Harper on a splitter and Rhys Hoskins with a curveball that had him frozen. Wheeler hit 100 with his two-seamer in the first inning and even threw his slider at 95 MPH. The velocity gains he made last season were very much legitimate.
In the second, he gave up a leadoff single to Maikel Franco but then began a streak of seven straight strikeouts. The order of victims went Phil Gosselin, Zach Eflin, Roman Quinn, Andrew McCutchen, J.T. Realmuto, Harper, and then Hoskins again.
Here is a summary of this went down: Wheeler went with a diet of fastballs to Gosselin before throwing a splitter that had Gosselin fooled. Eflin was caught staring at 98 on the black. Quinn got caught staring at a 98 MPH fastball that was moving away from him but still caught the outer part of the plate. McCutchen got caught looking at a 2,806 RPM curveball (H/T to David Adler). J.T. Realmuto got fooled on a splitter after seeing a curveball and 99 MPH fastball. Bryce Harper got the Harvey special from Wheeler. He saw a couple of breaking ball and well located fastballs but went chasing on a 98 MPH fastball up and out of the zone. Hoskins went down looking at a 99 MPH fastball that started away and worked back towards the outer half of the plate.
Franco seemed like the only Philly who had a shot at Wheeler last night and ended the strikeout streak with a double. Cesar Hernandez followed that up with a single but the Phillies curiously sent Franco and he was thrown out by a mile thanks to Jeff McNeil.
He got back to work in the fifth however, by throwing a setup splitter to Mitch Walding only to beat him with 98 up in the zone. Quinn was his 11th and final strikeout victim of the night and he went down swinging on a 99 MPH fastball up in the zone.
Wheeler started the sixth with 81 pitches but the Mets wanted some more mileage from him. He began with a long at-bat to McCutchen but that eventually ended with a groundout. He gave up a hit to Realmuto though to bring up Harper and Hoskins. After another swing and miss courtesy of a hard fastball up and away, Wheeler got Harper to popup to the catcher. He then got a weak fly out from Hoskins to end the threat.
With the Mets up big and needing another inning from Wheeler, they sent him out with 98 pitches and fortunately for them, he retired the side with just seven pitches in the seventh inning.
Wheeler really liked his fastball yesterday and for good reason. He threw it more than 60% of the time and he managed to average 98 with both his four-seamer and two-seamer. He stayed away from hitters as opposed to going inside but with his combination of movement and velocity, he can afford to stay out there.
The splitter yesterday looked much better than it did in other starts. He seemed to be comfortable throwing it at any point in time and throwing it anywhere in the zone. When he can take that much off a pitch, it is dangerous.
These were Wheeler’s release points and he did not give the Phillies any room to tell his pitches apart. Every little thing is needed by an offense to give them a fighting chance when Wheeler is on his game. If you can’t, then have a good night.
Lost in all this, Wheeler homered last night. He took a ball out to left center with a 101.4 MPH exit velocity, letting him join the elite 100-100 club. That club consists of pitchers who threw it 100 MPH and hit a ball 100 MPH.
Wheeler lowered his ERA to 4.85 and his FIP to 3.61. Expect both of those numbers to continue to fall. His next start will come next week against the Cincinnati Reds.
