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On the day the Philadelphia Phillies honored Roy Halladay, Zack Wheeler took the mound and did his best to emulate the great and late Doc. He made him proud by throwing a full shutout. After giving Brandon Nimmo a brace, Wheeler struck out the next 22 batters until he walked Comforto in the eighth. The only other baserunner would again be Nimmo in ninth on a single bloop.
Wheeler looked fantastic as he only needed 50 pitches to pass the fourth and continued his efficiency using a total of 108 pitches to go through 9 innings. Here is his number of throws per set after the fourth:
Fifth inning: 9 throws
Sixth round: 8 throws
Seventh inning: 12 throws
Eighth inning: 13 throws
Ninth: 16 pitches
Wheeler had some help as Jean Segura and JT Realumuto beat New York Mets starting pitcher Taijuan Walker in the first inning to take a 2-0 lead.
Philadelphia took the lead when Bryce Harper pitched his 20th homer of the season late in the sixth inning to make it 3-0. It was his 18th solo home run of the season, a statistically impressive achievement. Harper continues to advocate for the NL MVP award, and his campaign has taken off during this series with the Mets. It couldn’t have come at a better time.
On the day Halladay’s number was on the back of the mound, Wheeler landed two hits, 11 strikeouts, a full Mets shutout to complete the three-game sweep. Wheeler, like Harper, is also campaigning for material. His efforts on Sunday only intensified NL Cy Young’s speech that now surrounds Wheeler.
Philadelphia watches its stars step up at exactly the right time as they seek a playoff berth for the first time in a decade.
With Sunday afternoon’s win, the Phillies are now 59-53 this season and have maintained their lead in the NL East.
They will host the Los Angeles Dodgers for a series that kicks off Tuesday night. Aaron Nola will take the mound on Tuesday as he looks to make a turnaround after his last two performances.
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