Backed by big homers, Wheeler rebounds vs. Braves

ATLANTA -- You get the feeling Zack Wheeler’s last start didn’t sit well with him.

Wheeler allowed six runs and three home runs in five innings in last week’s loss to the Braves. It was one of his worst starts of the season, and it came at a time when the Phillies needed a big performance from their ace. But Wheeler made amends on Monday night with a dominant performance in a 7-1 victory over Atlanta at Truist Park.

Wheeler allowed one run in six innings as the Phillies took a 3 1/2-game lead over Arizona for the No. 1 National League Wild Card spot with 12 games to play. Wheeler’s next start against Atlanta might come in a few weeks in the NLDS.

“After the last outing, you kind of want to show them a ‘Hey, you’ve still got to deal with me' type of thing,” Wheeler said. “Mental aspect, for the game, for them and me. Just getting back on track, so they know I’m still me, I guess.”

• Games remaining (12): at ATL (2), vs. NYM (4), vs. PIT (3), at NYM (3)
• Standings update: The Phillies (82-68) have a 3 1/2-game lead over the D-backs (79-72) for the top NL Wild Card spot.
• Magic number to clinch NL Wild Card spot: 9

Wheeler allowed a solo home run to Ozzie Albies with one out in the first, but he retired the next 10 and 15 of the next 16 batters he faced. He found himself in a bases-loaded jam in the sixth, but he struck out Marcell Ozuna swinging on a 1-2 sweeper to end the inning.

Wheeler allowed three hits and two walks against the Braves’ NL record-setting offense. He struck out five, giving him 200-plus strikeouts for the second time in his career. He got 16 swings and misses, including 11 with his four-seam fastball.

“I had a better fastball, more true,” Wheeler said, comparing Monday to last week’s start. “The command was a little better. I didn’t make as many mistakes. [The fastball] was playing up [in the zone]. You’ve got to mix it up against those guys, so just moving it all around, and I saw that they were chasing early, so we just stayed with that.”

Since Wheeler joined the Phillies in 2020, he is 6-3 with a 2.46 ERA in 14 starts against the Braves, including the postseason. He might face them again in the NLDS, if the Phillies win a best-of-three NL Wild Card Series as one of the top two Wild Card seeds.

“It’s a good team, so you want to do well, especially after the last outing,” Wheeler said. “It was a quick turnaround, facing them back to back. That’s always tough, because you don’t try to second guess yourself or change things up too much.”

Wheeler got plenty of support on Monday. The Phillies hit five home runs: Johan Rojas hit a two-run opposite-field homer in the second; Bryce Harper, J.T. Realmuto and Nick Castellanos each hit solo homers; and Kyle Schwarber mashed a two-run homer over the Chop House in right field in the sixth inning to make it 7-1.

That’s right: over the Chop House. The ball traveled a projected 483 feet, per Statcast.

“When I saw it, I was like 'Oh my god,’” Rojas said through the team’s interpreter. “That went over everything. Like everything. It was amazing to see something like that.”

“Did it go out of the stadium?” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said.

It was the second-longest Phillies homer since Statcast started projecting distances in 2015, including the postseason. Schwarber’s 488-foot homer into the second deck at Petco Park in Game 1 of the 2022 NLCS is the longest. Monday’s blast was tied for the third-longest homer in baseball this year, and it was the second-longest homer ever hit at Truist Park.

Schwarber downplayed the homer, like he downplayed last year’s against Yu Darvish in the NLCS.

It’s not his style to brag about himself.

“I think it’ll be cool whenever you’re done,” he said. “Is it cool? Sure. It’s cool to say you did it, and you can take your kid to a baseball game and say, ‘Hey, you know what? Dad did this.’ But I’m just worried about trying to get a win right now.”

Great pitching always helps. That’s why it was good for everybody in the Phillies’ clubhouse to see their ace do his thing.

The Braves noticed.

“He’s a tough ride,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said.