TAMPA, Fla. — The Phillies blew a save in four of Zack Wheeler’s first seven starts this season, and with just a one-run lead entering the eighth inning Tuesday and the desire of manager Rob Thomson to get top reliever Jose Alvarado a break, it looked like potentially more of the same.
That’s when three straight singles and a three-run homer from Nick Castellanos broke open a tight game, loosened everyone up and cut Wheeler’s night an inning or two short in an 8-4 Phillies win over the Rays.
Wheeler threw just 84 pitches through seven innings and would have gone back out for the eighth if not for the length of the Phillies’ four-run top half. He was his usual overpowering self, allowing just two runs with no walks and nine strikeouts.
“He pitched up and down, in and out, he was commanding the ball all over the place,” Thomson said. “He was really good.”
The only runs Wheeler allowed came on a two-run homer in the bottom of the fourth from Yandy Diaz on a 95 mph sinker over the middle. Wheeler has uncharacteristically allowed one home run in each of his eight starts this season, four of them on sinkers. He allowed just five homers total on the sinker from 2022-24.
“I just haven’t faced that many righties,” he said of the sinker, his primary weapon against same-handed hitters. “It’s always kinda been that way but I feel like it’s a lot more this year than years prior. I guess it’s not as crisp. I just need to be a little more careful with it.”
One of the best at reading swings and making in-game adjustments, Wheeler responded by pumping more four-seam fastballs than usual, throwing 42 of them compared to just five sinkers. The first eight of his nine K’s came on four-seamers.
“You don’t really recognize it when you’re out there, but I knew (the fastball) was pretty good tonight and I was locating it for the most part,” Wheeler said. “There was some stuff in there that I got away with but I just knew it was flying well.”
Diaz’ home run would not have been out in any of the other 29 stadiums, according to Statcast, but it had just enough distance to clear the wall at Steinbrenner Field, where the Rays are playing in 2025 because of the devastation to Tropicana Field from Hurricane Milton last October.
Wheeler (3-1, 3.35 ERA) has given up two runs or fewer in six of his eight starts. He has the lowest expected ERA in all of baseball based on quality of contact allowed, indicating he’s been even better than his already ace-like traditional numbers.
“That’s him, that’s J.T. (Realmuto). They’re seeing things back there and they’re really good at making adjustments,” Thomson said. “And when you can command the baseball like Wheels can, you can do those types of things.”
With his 10th double and fourth homer as part of a three-hit night, Castellanos is up to 21 RBI, second on the team to Kyle Schwarber, who homered and drove in a pair himself, reaching base four of five times.
The four runs of insurance Castellanos provided were crucial because the Phillies’ bullpen has allowed 14 runs in 21⅔ innings this season after Wheeler has exited a start. Castellanos leads the National League this season in batting average vs. fastballs (.400 entering the night) and line drive rate (34.3% compared to a league average of 23.3%). His homer Tuesday was on a fastball but the double came on a sweeper and the single vs. a changeup.
The Phillies scored their first three runs in the top of the second, which Schwarber led off with a homer, his fifth in seven games. Four batters later, Alec Bohm hit a two-run shot to right field, his first of the season and first in 165 plate appearances dating back to last Sept. 20 at Citi Field.
Bohm has had trouble driving the ball to the pull-side and as a result, pitchers are routinely challenging him on the inner half. Why let the 6-foot-5 Bohm get his arms extended?
Rays right-hander Drew Rasmussen tried to do exactly that to Bohm with two outs in the second inning Tuesday, throwing a couple of 96 mph sinkers that were too far inside as Bohm ran a 3-0 count. One strike later, Rasmussen missed a spot with a cutter that caught too much of the outside corner and Bohm made him pay, hitting it 342 feet over the wall in right field for a line-drive two-run homer. He was all smiles as he crossed the plate and celebrated with Brandon Marsh and Bryson Stott.
“You get to this point in the season without playing very well, obviously it feels good to start producing a little bit,” Bohm said. “I feel like I’ve been doing the right things. It’s easy to look up at the scoreboard and say, ‘Oh, he’s having a bad year.’ The numbers are the numbers and they don’t necessarily define who we are each day.”
Bohm is on a bit of a roll. He has hit safely in 16 of his last 20 games, batting .310 over that span.
Does the home run total matter to him?
“That’s the game nowadays, everybody wants home runs,” he said. “I feel like when I go up there trying to do that stuff, I never end up doing it. That’s not when I’m at my best. When I kinda just stick within myself, what happened today is what can happen for me. I’m not gonna go up there searching for home runs and trying to do that. I’m just trying to put myself in a good position and hit the ball hard.”
The Phillies played a crisp game defensively, a good sign after miscues at second base, third base and shortstop cost them on Sunday. Stott dove to his right twice to end innings by fielding tough grounders. Bryce Harper left his feet to snag a short hop in the bottom of the first. Bohm and Stott combined on a rapid 5-4-3 double play to end the seventh.
The Phillies look to win their fourth straight series on Wednesday night behind Cristopher Sanchez. They are 7-2 since reaching their low-point at .500 two weekends ago in Chicago.
Diaz left Tuesday’s game after an awkward swing in the sixth inning, appearing to injure his groin. He’s by far the Rays’ best hitter and is routinely toward the top of the league in hard-hit rate, so that could be a big deal the rest of the series.
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