Wheeler reminds Mets what they're missing

PHILADELPHIA -- Zack Wheeler spent the past eight years of his life with the Mets, so naturally he felt extra nerves and adrenaline as he stepped on the mound to face his former team on Sunday at Citizens Bank Park.

He would not be human if he did not feel something.

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But Wheeler was able to stay cool and collected in a 6-2 victory over the Mets, helping the Phillies sweep their first series of the season and sweep the Mets at home for the first time since 2015. Wheeler allowed two runs on six hits and one walk, and he struck out four in seven innings to improve to 3-0 with a 2.81 ERA. He has been everything as advertised for the Phillies, who signed him to a five-year, $118 million contract in December.

“I’m not trying to prove anybody wrong,” Wheeler said. “Just go out there and just pitch my game and just try to get a win for us.

“But yeah, you’re facing your old team, you want to go out there and do well. There’s no way around it. It’s nothing personal against those guys. I enjoyed my time over there, made a lot of good friends. It was just fun competing against them.”

Wheeler grinded through his first four innings, throwing 70 pitches. He loaded the bases with two outs in the fourth, when Luis Guillorme hit a 1-2 fastball on the outside corner down the third-base line to score two runs and hand the Mets a 2-1 lead. Guillorme did not hit the ball hard, but he hit it in the perfect spot.

"A little weird, especially being with him all last year and then him signing with Philly,” Mets third baseman J.D. Davis said about facing Wheeler. “It was definitely weird. But he's a little comfortable over there with what he got, so I think he's happy.”

Wheeler threw seven pitches in the fifth, 13 pitches in the sixth and nine pitches in the seventh. Alec Bohm’s run-scoring double and Andrew McCutchen’s two-run home run in the sixth inning staked him to a two-run lead. McCutchen entered the game in the fifth for Jay Bruce, who exited with a left quadriceps issue.

Maybe the homer gets McCutchen going. He is hitting .192 as he continues his progress following ACL surgery last summer.

“I know it's a matter of time,” he said. “I want to rush through it. I want to be better than what I've been. But I also have to respect the fact that I am coming back from an injury. As much as I feel like I should be doing better, and I still feel that it's not an excuse to say that's why I'm doing bad, but I also have to realize that may have a little bit to do with it.”

If hitters like McCutchen get going, it could mean big things for the Phillies, who have gotten quality starting pitching since the beginning of the season, especially from Aaron Nola and Wheeler. Wheeler has induced weak contact early in the count in his first four starts. His strikeouts are down, but so is his pitch count. It has allowed him to pitch at least 5 2/3 innings in every start and seven innings twice.

“It’s kind of always been my thing, get ahead, stay ahead and just get quick outs so you can go deep in the games,” Wheeler said. “When I first came up in the big leagues, all the older guys were telling me you want to go seven innings or more, and so that kind of always stuck with me. That was always my goal. I didn’t have the best command early on in my career, so I had a lot of five- or six-inning games with 100 pitches. But I always go back to when I got hurt for those two years [in 2015-16]. I watched a lot of baseball. And I just watched the best pitchers in the game and how they competed, how they went about game plans, at-bats, that type of stuff. They’re always getting ahead, they get quick outs, and that’s how those aces always go deep in the games.”

The victory improved the Phillies to 8-9 as they embark on a four-city, 10-game road trip through Boston, Buffalo, Atlanta and Washington. It will be their first time on the road during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We’ve seen other teams,” Wheeler said. “We’ve been a part of it, kind of. We’re going to have to be vigilant and just play it safe and just don’t do anything dumb. Just stay at the hotel, go to the ballpark, play, do our job. It’s pretty simple.”