Phillies’ Zack Wheeler not blaming delay after HBP for unraveling: ‘I just didn’t execute’

ATLANTA — As Ronald Acuña Jr. crouched down on the grass behind home plate and clutched at his right elbow, and as the sold-out crowd rained invective down upon the Phillies, Zack Wheeler stood in the middle of it all and threw a few warmup pitches.

It was all the ace could do to stay locked in.

For 5⅔ innings Wednesday night in Game 2 of the National League Division Series against the Atlanta Braves, Wheeler couldn’t have been more in rhythm. He retired 17 of 18 batters on a total of 58 pitches. He dazzled, as usual, especially at Truist Park against his hometown team.

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But Wheeler hit Acuña with a first-pitch sinker. And after a delay that lasted several minutes, he walked Dansby Swanson, gave up a run on a ball that was ruled a hit even though it went underneath first baseman Rhys Hoskins’ glove, and allowed a tapper in front of the mound that drove in another run in an eventual 3-0 loss that evened the best-of-five series at one game apiece.

And when it was over, even Phillies manager Rob Thomson wondered whether Wheeler was disrupted by the amount of time that it took for Acuña to determine he could stay in the game.

“Not at all,” said Wheeler, hardly the type for distractions or excuses. “I don’t think anything really knocks you out of your rhythm unless it’s like a 10-minute delay maybe. I was just staying there, not really worried about what was happening. Threw my pitches that I needed to throw, warmups or whatever you want to call them. I just didn’t execute when the time came.”

Acuña said he was “hurting pretty bad” but was intent on staying in the game.

And now?

“We won,” Acuña said. “Everything feels good.”

Wheeler maintained that he wasn’t bothered by Hoskins’ whiff either. If anything, he blamed himself for catching too much of the plate on the second of back-to-back sliders to Matt Olson.

“I went from spiking them to just kind of leaving them over the middle,” Wheeler said. “That’s what got me that inning. If I would’ve executed that, I think he would’ve swung over it. It was down the middle and right in his bat path.”

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Wheeler fielded Riley’s slow roller but held the ball rather than risking an errant throw to first base and starting what he termed a “merry-go-round” on the bases. Wheeler mislocated another slider to Braves catcher Travis d’Arnaud, his close friend and former teammate in the New York Mets organization, and it went through the middle and into center field for an RBI single.

It’s tough to lose on a ball that Hoskins admitted should’ve been caught and two pitches that were mislocated by a few inches. But for a second consecutive start, the Phillies didn’t hit for Wheeler. They got shut out for eight innings of Game 1 of the wild-card series against the St. Louis Cardinals but rallied for six runs in the ninth.

There was no rally this time.

“I thought Wheels was outstanding. He had everything going,” Thomson said. “I don’t know whether the hit batsman threw him off a little bit or not. Just kind of unraveled. I thought he was outstanding all night.”

Thomson lifted Wheeler after the sixth inning and 79 pitches, which begs the question of whether he would be able to start a potential decisive Game 5 Sunday in Atlanta on three days’ rest. He has never before started on short rest and missed five starts late in the season with elbow inflammation.

“Haven’t even thought about it, to be honest,” Wheeler said. “It’s something we would have to talk about, for sure.”

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In the meantime, the Phillies have Aaron Nola on the mound for Game 3 on Friday at home, their first playoff game at Citizens Bank Park since Oct. 7, 2011. Thomson hasn’t named a Game 4 starter yet. Noah Syndergaard, who pitched a scoreless eighth inning, would be one possibility, along with lefty Bailey Falter and veteran right-hander Kyle Gibson.

“Obviously we wanted to win this one,” Wheeler said. “But splitting here, at least we won one. Now we get to go home. Hopefully we don’t have to come back here.”