On Sunday, Zack Wheeler (2-6) looked nothing like the pitcher we’ve seen in his last three solid starts, allowing four earned runs on six hits and two walks while striking out six in an 86 pitch effort. The young righty suffered with command issues and lasted just 3.2 innings It was the shortest outing of his career.
“He wasn’t really as sharp as he has been,” said Terry Collins about Wheeler’s performance. “The command of his fastball was not there today, which is what he’s really been successful doing lately. He pretty much had to go to his offspeed stuff to get some swings. Normally, when he’s on, his fastball is dynamic. Today is just one of those nights.”
Wheeler gave his own opinion of his start.
“That’s definitely not the start that the team needed out of me. I needed to go deep into the game and not let up any of the runs that I let up. That’s all there is to it. I didn’t pitch well. I didn’t really have fastball command. Everything else was working for me. Just the fastball command was off, and it’s kind of hard to pitch and get ahead of guys when you don’t have that.”
