Zack Wheeler pitches like an ace again in Phillies’ 6-1 win over Houston

On Saturday afternoon, the Phillies hurler retired 18 of the 23 batters he faced.

Published April 29, 2023, 8:39 p.m. ET

HOUSTON — Zack Wheeler has taken a while to look like himself on the mound. The pitch clock was an adjustment. His velocity was a few ticks down over his first few starts. He was walking hitters at a higher clip.

It was all very un-Wheeler-like.

But on Saturday, against his toughest opponent yet, he returned to form in a 6-1 Phillies win. Wheeler averaged 96.2 mph on his four-seam fastball — a bump from his previous start. He maxed out at 97.4 — also a bump — and allowed just three hits and one walk, while shutting out the Astros over six innings and striking out seven.

He deftly mixed his sinker, his fastball, his sweeper, his slider, and his curveball to keep the Astros off-balance, and it worked. Manager Rob Thomson said it was Wheeler’s best outing of the season.

“The velocity and the life on his fastball was as good as I’ve seen this year,” Thomson said. “He was pumping strikes and using his secondary pitches, his sweeper, his slider, the curveball. He was really good.”

Like most of his teammates, returning the Minute Maid Park doesn’t bring back the best of memories. Wheeler was here on the mound for Game 6 of the 2022 World Series. He gave the Phillies one of the best starts of his career — allowing just two baserunners over five innings — but was pulled with two outs in the sixth.

José Alvarado allowed a home run in the next batter to give the Astros a 3-1 lead and a few innings later, it was over. The Phillies fell two games short of winning it all.

During a recent interview, Wheeler said that he doesn’t think he’ll ever be over the loss. But he didn’t seem affected by where he was pitching, or who he was pitching against, on Saturday. It was a workman-like performance. He induced 14 swings and misses and retired 18 of the 23 batters he faced.

This is not to say Wheeler’s World Series rematch was without theatrics. In the bottom of the fifth inning, with two outs, he hit Martin Maldonado with a sinker. Maldonado, who was accused of leaning into a pitch in Game 6, clearly thought it was intentional. He started to walk toward Wheeler, and catcher J.T. Realmuto intercepted him. Both bullpens started to empty.

But regardless of Wheeler’s intentions, he didn’t let the interaction rattle him. He induced a groundout from Mauricio Dubon to end the inning and allowed his one walk in the bottom of the sixth.

“I’m assuming [Maldonado reacted that way] because of what happened last year. It is what it is,” Wheeler said. “The only reason why we started talking to each other was because I saw his mouth moving and looking at me, so I said what’s up, you’re just looking at me, talking. It was squashed after that.”

A good offensive showing

The Phillies did a good job of working their at-bats against a tough pitching staff on Saturday. Nick Castellanos put the Phillies on the board with a towering 416-foot solo homer in the top of the fourth. It hit the train tracks in left field. He flipped his bat and saluted his teammates as he rounded the bases to the sound of boos.

A sac fly from J.T. Realmuto scored another run two batters later. Houston native Kody Clemens hit his second home run of the season in the sixth — with his father, Roger, watching in the crowd — and Alec Bohm and Jake Cave tacked on two runs with an RBI double and an RBI single, respectively.

It was a strong showing from a few players who needed it. Cave went 3-for-4 after entering the game with a .186 batting average. He’s now hitting .222. Realmuto, who has also gotten off to a slow start, went 2-for-3. His average is now up to .283. Clemens struggled off the bench with Detroit last season, but has made an extra effort to stay ready during games in his first season with the Phillies.

“Just trying to get more reps in the cage during games,” he said. “I do little live at-bats with [assistant hitting coach] Jason Camilli underneath to try to see pitches. It’s also good to keep me on my toes. Just trying to be ready and do as best as I can when I do get the call.”