Zack Wheeler, Alec Bohm lead Phillies to shutout of Cardinals to claim sole possession of the third NL wild-card spot

ST. LOUIS — It sounds crazy to say. On July 8. Eight days before the All-Star break. With 77 games still to play. But, OK, let’s just come out with it.

Doesn’t this series against the Cardinals feel like one of the Phillies’ biggest in years?

“Of course,” Zack Wheeler said Friday night. “You say it’s only July 8, but we’re, what, over the halfway point now, and we’re battling these guys. Every game counts, especially against a team that you’re battling against.”

Never mind, then, that Wheeler rolled his ankle pushing off the mound in the second inning. Or that he faced the Cardinals five nights earlier and shut them out for seven innings.

The situation called for an encore, and lo and behold, the Phillies ace delivered again. Wheeler threw up zeroes for seven more innings, outdueled Cardinals mainstay Adam Wainwright, and led a 2-0 victory before 41,100 at jam-packed Busch Stadium that was powered by two solo homers from Alec Bohm, who hadn’t gone deep in a month.

“That’s Wheels, man,” Bohm said. “Any time he’s got the ball, we know we’ve got a good chance to win. We just want to put up some runs to watch him work. It’s really a treat watching him throw the ball every fifth day. Time after time, he keeps us in the game.”

» READ MORE: The legend of Kyle Schwarber’s home run power, from high school and college to the Phillies

Indeed, the Phillies are 9-4 in Wheeler’s last 13 starts. He hasn’t given up a run in his last 17⅓ innings. His ERA since April 28: 1.53.

And after their third victory over the Cardinals in the last eight days, the Phillies moved into sole possession of the final wild-card spot in the National League. The teams were tied coming in, with the Phillies holding an edge of .0007 percentage points in the standings.

So, you see where this four-game series could be considered pivotal, especially because the teams don’t play again this season after Monday’s finale at Busch Stadium.

“I guess you could say that,” Bohm said. “I think it’s just competitive baseball. That’s a really good team, but we know we’re a really good team over here. We play our game. We think we can beat anybody on any given night.”

But the degree of difficulty this time for Wheeler was considerable. It’s common for a pitcher to face the same team several times per season. But twice in five days?

“You don’t see that too often, I wouldn’t think,” Phillies interim manager Rob Thomson said.

Wheeler talked it over before the game with pitching coaches Caleb Cotham and Brian Kaplan and catcher J.T. Realmuto. Should he vary his pattern against certain Cardinals hitters? Should he stick with what worked before?

Wheeler said they “kind of stayed with the same plan, for the most part.” And why not? It obviously was good enough. He gave up back-to-back two-out singles in the first inning and again in the fourth. Both times, he regrouped to retire the next batter.

The sixth inning was a grind. Wheeler allowed a two-out single to Nolan Arenado, balked him into scoring position, and walked Nolan Gorman on eight pitches. But he reached back for a 96 mph fastball to whiff Dylan Carlson.

Wheeler turned over the 2-0 lead to Seranthony Domínguez, who threw a scoreless eighth inning and passed the baton to Brad Hand for the ninth. Left fielder Kyle Schwarber helped, too, hauling in Albert Pujols’ drive to the warning track in the ninth inning.

Oh, and about Wheeler’s ankle? He was never concerned that he would have to leave the game, especially because it didn’t swell up between innings. Thomson watched him closely anyway, at least until Wheeler covered first base in the fifth inning without incident.

“There was no change in his gait. It was normal,” Thomson said. “He was really good. He was dynamite.”

» READ MORE: Phillies’ Bryce Harper voted as National League All-Star DH; won’t attend game because of broken thumb

Nobody needed to remind Bohm of his last home run.

“Milwaukee,” he said. “Was that the last one? It’s been a little bit.”

Bohm hadn’t gone deep since his go-ahead homer June 7 against Brewers closer Josh Hader, a span of 107 plate appearances. But with his parents and a few close friends in attendance after making the trip from Omaha, Neb., he led off the sixth inning by taking a hanging cutter from Wainwright deep to straightaway center field to break a scoreless tie.

Two innings later, Bohm did it again, blasting a Wainwright curveball out to left-center. It marked his first career two-homer game.

”It’s there,” Thomson said. “You watch batting practice and early work, and it’s there. He hits the ball a long way. It’s just got to get synced up, and maybe this is the sign of good times to come for him as far as home runs.”

In the midst of a 6-for-45 skid, and with Matt Vierling and Mickey Moniak on the roster, Odúbel Herrera got the start in center field and batted ninth.

Thomson explained that Herrera’s history against Wainwright (6-for-15, one home run) factored into the decision. Herrera went 1-for-2 with a single in the third inning.