Wheeler twirls scoreless gem with season-high 12 K's

ATLANTA -- If Zack Wheeler wanted, he could have dissected his first 10 starts this season and seen that he pitched better than his record and ERA indicated.

But in the end, the record is the record, and the ERA is the ERA.

So, yes, it felt nice for Wheeler to show up Saturday at Truist Park and dominate the Braves in a 2-1 victory. He pitched eight scoreless innings in his best start of the year, striking out a season-high 12 batters while allowing three hits and one walk. The start put the Phillies in position to win a four-game series against the first-place Braves with a victory on Sunday night.

“To actually pitch well and have the numbers, it makes you feel a little better,” Wheeler said.

Wheeler entered the afternoon 3-4 with a 4.11 ERA, but metrics indicated he deserved better. The right-hander had a 1.8 pitching WAR, which ranked 10th in baseball according to FanGraphs. His 2.90 FIP nearly matched last season’s 2.89 FIP. The difference between his FIP and ERA (1.20) was the largest gap in baseball among qualified pitchers. His 3.56 expected ERA ranked 22nd out of 132 pitchers with 100 or more balls in play.

Wheeler’s .327 batting average on balls in play was well above his career average (.298).

But Wheeler couldn’t just expect better results, so he pressed the issue. He spent time in his last bullpen session focusing on commanding and locating his pitches. He was frustrated following his last start on Monday that he did not elevate his four-seam fastball enough out of the zone.

Wheeler has a typical bullpen routine between starts. He will throw a certain number of pitches to his arm side (right side) of the plate. He will throw a certain number of consecutive pitches to his glove side (left side). And he will elevate a few. But in his last bullpen, he worked a triangle pattern: arm side, glove side, up, arm side, glove side, up.

“That way, you’re not comfortable hitting one spot,” Wheeler said. “You’ve got to keep it locked in and keep it moving around and just really exaggerate throwing the ball up, because throwing the ball up this year – it’s been at the top of the zone, but it needs to be a ball or two above the zone to get those swings and misses, not foul balls.”

Wheeler struck out Matt Olson and Austin Riley swinging on four-seam fastballs in the first inning. Both pitches were a ball or two above the zone.

Wheeler got 13 whiffs on 27 swings at his four-seam fastball on Saturday. He got 22 whiffs on 55 swings (40 percent) overall.

It was his second-best whiff rate of the season.

Wheeler allowed a one-out double to Sean Murphy in the fourth, but Alec Bohm then made a fantastic diving stop at third base on a smash down the line from Marcell Ozuna. Bohm threw a one-hopper from his knees to first baseman Kody Clemens.

“He bails us out a lot, so any time I can help Wheels out, I love it,” Bohm said.

With a sterling start already secured through seven innings, Phillies manager Rob Thomson and Wheeler spoke before he went out for the eighth. Thomson told him that if he got Michael Harris II and Ronald Acuña Jr., he would face Olson to finish the frame. If either of them got on base, however, he would bring left-hander Gregory Soto into the game.

Wheeler struck out Harris swinging on a 0-2 fastball at the top of the zone. He got Acuña to strike out swinging on a 1-2 curveball. Olson grounded out to end the inning.

“He had everything going,” Thomson said.

“It felt like he could have probably thrown out there all day long,” added Braves manager Brian Snitker.

Trea Turner watched it all from shortstop. Turner has faced Wheeler 43 times in his career, the third-most plate appearances against any pitcher he has faced. He has enjoyed some success against Wheeler, but Turner knows what the righty can do when he is locked in.

“[This is] much more fun,” Turner said. “It’s fun to play behind because he pounds the zone; he comes right at guys. As a defender, those are the guys you want to play behind, but then you get to watch him strike out a bunch of guys. It’s fun because you don’t have to do much. It’s the best of both worlds.”