– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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ARLINGTON, TEXAS — Despite his professed clean bill of health after Sunday’s game, Philadelphia Phillies starter Zack Wheeler clearly was off his usual Cy Young-like game on the mound, and his opponents wasted no time in getting on the scoreboard. Soon after, however, Wheeler’s usually electric stuff that allows him to sail through games gave way to a dogged resilience that he needed to grind out just enough of an effective start to keep the Phillies’ winning ways going.
Wheeler, pushed back two days from his scheduled start doe to shoulder soreness, struck out seven in his five innings of work, helping lead the Phillies to a 4-2 win over the Texas Rangers and completing a sweep of the weekend series inside Globe Life Field. Edmundo Sosa hit a game-tying solo homer as part of a two-run fifth inning for Philadelphia that gave it the lead for good.
The win, coupled with the Mets defeat in Milwaukee that completed a sweep for the Brewers, pushes Philadelphia’s lead over New York to 5 1/2 games in the National League East.
One of the leading candidates for Cy Young in the National League, Wheeler has been slowed by his sore throwing shoulder, and admitted that the problem has been lingering for more than a couple of weeks and that he and the team went for imaging to figure out if there was any structural damage and what the right treatment would be going forward. While Wheeler’s velocity was down and his location more erratic than most of his starts this season, Wheeler still kept Rangers hitters off-balance for most of his time on the mound, and did so long enough before Philadelphia’s offense woke up in the middle innings.
“Today I felt perfectly normal,” Wheeler said.
Despite that proclamation, Wheeler found himself down two runs before the end of the first inning, courtesy of a two-run homer from Joc Pederson on a 3-1 pitch with two outs. The next batter, Adolis García, singled.
After that, Wheeler allowed just one more hit the rest of the way, as he struck out the side in the second.
“That’s the type of pitcher he is,” Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto said. “Even when he doesn’t have his best stuff, he’s going to give us a chance to win the game. He’s going to go out there and compete, and he’s going to find a way to get it done.”
Wheeler also was able to preserve the lead through the help of center fielder Harrison Bader, who leaped high to rob Corey Seager of what would have been a home run in the fifth inning and the Phillies holding a 3-2 lead.
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Sunday afternoon’s game, with photos taken by ALOST photo editor Ross James. After clicking on a photo to enlarge the picture, press the left and right arrow buttons on either side of the caption to scroll through the rest of the pictures that appear on the first page. Also, click on the numbers and/or arrow appearing immediately below the picture grid to load the next set of photos. There are 35 pictures in total.
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