Zack Wheeler's command remains elusive as Phillies lose a battle of aces

New York Times

3 days ago

PHILADELPHIA — It was the seventh inning, and Zack Wheeler sat at 97 pitches.
The 98th, a sinker, did not quite find the target that catcher J.T. Realmuto set. Instead, the Tigers' Javier Báez put a swift swing on the pitch to send it into the left-field stands at Citizens Bank Park on Saturday.
Wheeler grimaced. Báez rounded the bases, and the mound visit commenced before Wheeler made his way into the Phillies' dugout. After six innings pitched and three home runs allowed, his day was over.
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'Fastball command was off,' Wheeler said. 'I just pulled a lot of stuff. It was probably the worst my sinker's ever been — just pulling it middle. That's what Báez hit out at the end.'
The Phillies' 7-5 loss to Detroit was the latest of four straight starts in which Wheeler has looked good, but not as sharp as usual. Wheeler can still battle, striking out 10. He drew whiffs that made batters look silly, like big swinging strikes on sweepers to end the first and fourth innings. He is also still tied atop the National League for FIP (.92) and ranks fifth in ERA (2.64).
However, the Phillies' ace has allowed three or more runs in just six of 22 starts this year, and three of those starts have come over the past month. Saturday was one of them.
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It came during a battle of aces. Wheeler faced off against American League Cy Young contender Tarik Skubal, making it all the more frustrating, Wheeler said, that he came up short. What could've been a no-hitter watch was not, as both pitchers gave up hits in the first. Yet both pitchers still brought precision and poise, initially. Skubal had six strikeouts through two innings. Wheeler had four.
Then came the third inning. Wheeler's one-out, first-pitch fastball to Colt Keith shot toward the middle of the zone and was taken for a home run to right field. Four pitches later, a high-middle fastball to Kerry Carpenter also flew deep to right field. It was 2-0, Tigers.
Wheeler has now given up seven home runs in his last five starts. In his 17 starts before then, he gave up 10. His pitch counts over his last four starts have also generally increased, and in his last four outings (23 2/3 IP), he is averaging 17.5 pitches per inning. In the five before then (40 IP), he averaged 15.3 pitches per inning.
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That is nothing crazy, but it is a reflection of what Wheeler feels is the problem.
'Consistency, command isn't the same,' he said. 'That's really been it.'
The issue has shown up across several games. He yanked some pitches against the New York Yankees on July 27, hitting three batters, including two back-to-back, as he let up four runs in the second inning. He let up a leadoff home run off a dead-center fastball to the Red Sox's Jarren Duran on July 21. In Wheeler's last start before the All-Star break, another dead-center fastball became a two-run homer for the Padres' Jackson Merrill.
He has also been tagged late in recent outings, like a Red Sox resurgence in the sixth on July 27 and another Merrill homer in the sixth against the Padres on July 12. It happened again Saturday, when he gave up the homer to Báez.
Before returning to the mound in the seventh, Wheeler sat at 95 pitches. Phillies manager Rob Thomson said he liked keeping Wheeler in to face the Tigers' two right-handed batters, with plans to pull him before facing Keith, a lefty who went 3-for-3 against Wheeler.
Wheeler said it was at his urging.
'Told him that I really wanted to,' Wheeler said, 'and we just have that respect for each other, so he let me. But, at the end of the day, maybe I shouldn't have. But I really did feel good being able to go back out there.'
Thomson sees command as the culprit of Wheeler's recent struggles 'for the most part.' Last week in New York, the manager saw lower velocity and worse command than on Saturday: 'Maybe we're trending in the right direction,' he said.
After his July 27 start, Wheeler said he was going to work with pitching coach Caleb Cotham and search for anything to clean up, but he did not find anything. Sometimes, he said, these stretches happen during the season.
'I just need to be better,' Wheeler said. 'I need to get my command back.'