Zack Wheeler sharp but Phillies’ bats quiet in 2-1 loss to Cubs; magic number is 7

CHICAGO — Just like the Phillies don’t have much room for error in their postseason chase, they didn’t have much room for error Tuesday night. Marcus Stroman, who has pitched well against the Phillies in his career, was on the mound for the Cubs. Starter Zack Wheeler and the Phillies’ bullpen only allowed two runs, but the Phillies’ lineup didn’t provide the run support to overcome it in a 2-1 loss.

The Phillies’ magic number is seven and they now have a 1½-game lead on Milwaukee in the National League wild-card standings after the Cardinals beat the Brewers, 6-2, Tuesday night.

The pivotal run came in the bottom of the seventh. Reliever Connor Brogdon came in for Wheeler, who had thrown just 62 pitches. Brogdon allowed a single and then a two-out RBI double to Yan Gomes to give the Cubs a 2-1 lead.

Wheeler said after the game that he would have liked to go a little bit deeper. But he said it ultimately was the Phillies’ call to hold him at six innings and added it was the right call. Interim manager Rob Thomson echoed that he was targeting six innings for Wheeler, even though he still had some pitches left.

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Thomson had Noah Syndergaard warming in the bullpen, but he didn’t want to bring him into a tie game, which is why he went with Brogdon. Seranthony Domínguez and Zach Eflin weren’t available, per Thomson.

“Actually, he threw the ball well,” Thomson said of Brogdon. “He got soft contact. He didn’t get a pitch high enough to Gomes to get it over the barrel, and he got some pretty good wood on it. But everything else was ground ball, soft contact. I thought he threw the ball well.”

“Flush it tonight, and got to get going,” Bryce Harper said of the team’s mindset. “We can keep saying that, right, but we’ve got to actually do it. So as a team, as a club, we’ve got to be better. We all know that in here. I think [Wednesday night] we’re going to go out there and be a lot better out there.”

Wheeler cruised through his second outing since he was activated off the 15-day injured list. He need only eight pitches to get through the first inning and seven to get through the second inning. He was at 27 pitches by the end the third inning, 36 by the end of the fourth inning, and 46 by the end of the fifth.

It was the sixth inning when Wheeler’s velocity began to dip a bit and his command started to waver. After striking out Christopher Morel — who hit a solo home run off Wheeler in the third — Wheeler allowed a walk, then a single before inducing a grounder that ended in double play.

All in all, it was another encouraging outing from Wheeler, who went six innings, allowing five hits, one run, and one walk with five strikeouts. Forty-three of Wheeler’s 62 pitches were strikes. To put that in perspective, Stroman finished his night at 97 pitches through seven innings.

“I feel good,” Wheeler said. “Everything is kind of working. Offspeed was a little better today. Just kind of that one that we just talked about [to Morel], but the curveball was there. As long as I keep improving, I think I’m good, personally. I’m going to try to keep the team in it, put us in a place to win. That’s all I can really do.”

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The bats largely were quiet. The Phillies had trouble doing damage off of Stroman, which makes sense, given how he’s pitched against them this season. Stroman entered Tuesday’s game with a 1.50 ERA against Phillies this season and 2.49 ERA against them in 11 career outings.

He allowed only four hits and one run through seven innings, with one walk and six strikeouts. Harper accounted for the earned run off Stroman, lining an RBI double that traveled 354 feet and came off his bat at 106.3 mph that scored Bryson Stott in the sixth inning to tie the game.

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“He’s dominated me for my whole career,” Harper said of Stroman. “He’s always getting up there, throwing that cutter for a strike, throwing that sinker to keep me off balance. He’s one of the outliers in the game now because everyone tries to throw as hard as they can, but he’s a pitcher. He goes out there and pitches the ball well.

“He’s done that his whole career. He’s been successful with that. He’s a competitor out there. He wants to win. And just really good on the mound. So I thought he threw the ball really well tonight. We just weren’t able to get him.”

The Phillies didn’t fare much better after Stroman came out of the game. Cubs reliever Brandon Hughes allowed one walk in the eighth inning and one hit in the ninth. The Phillies recorded no hits off Manuel Rodríguez, who came in after Hughes, in the ninth inning.

Thomson called on reliever Chris Devenski to pitch the eighth. The Phillies signed Devenski to a minor league contract on Aug. 29 and selected his contract on Sunday. In his first outing, the right-handed reliever allowed no hits, runs, or walks in one inning.