Phillies came on top of a duel between two notable right-wing players at Sunday Night Baseball, where they beat the Cardinals 4-0 to take an important streak against the team chasing them in the National League final.
Zach Wheeler outplayed Adam Wainwright by seven innings to a goalless crowd of 44,225, which is Phils’ second sale of the season. Wheeler was at 94 throws in six innings but went out for Game Seven because the sixth game was his fastest turn and Phillies needed to extend it. Seranthony Dominguez, Brad Hand and Jose Alvarado were all used up two days in a row, so it was important that Wheeler could finish seventh.
“You have sort of evidence and you hear that some men have fallen,” Wheeler said. “My goal was to go out there and get deeper into the game. The pitch went up, I knew I had to get in poor contact with my progress and I was able to do that.”
Phillies are 7-2 in their last nine series and have a record 42-38 in a single game before the official halfway point of their season. They are tracking St. Louis by 1½ games in the last NL wild card place after taking two out of three this weekend. The teams meet again next weekend in a four-match series.
Rhys Hoskins put Phils on the board with a solo race at home in the fourth inning, his 17th. He then led sixth with two goals and Nick Castellanos’ solo goal for the shallow left midfield. JT Realmuto followed two hitters later with a two-stage shot.
Over his last 25 games, Hoskins has racked up .341/.443/.750 with 7 doubles, 9 home hurdles, and 17 RBIs. He also took a dive in the eighth inning on Sunday for an exit that would have resulted in two Cardinals on board to top the rankings against Nick Nelson.
“It’s a big win for the series,” Hoskins said. “We haven’t played much in the middle yet and to be able to get a chain win now, a chain win against the Brewers, the two best teams out there, it’s always a good sign as a measuring stick.”
Wheeler wasn’t at his best early on, putting a man on base in each of the first five rounds and throwing fewer hits than usual. But he was stingy far from sprawl, allowing only one of these runners to advance to the scoring center. He was at his best in his last two frames and retired the last of the nine hitters he faced to improve to 7-4 with a 2.66 ERA.
It was a great bounce after starting twice below Wheeler’s level. He was taken deep twice and made three stops in 6 runs Tuesday against the Braves and put 10 guys at the base in just 4 degrees the previous week in Texas. Those matches came after he went 6-0 with a 1.40 ERA in nine games from April 28 through June 22.
“I’ve run into him and it’s really uncomfortable,” Hoskins said of his teammate. “You know exactly what you’re going to get. He’ll likely go deeper into the game and there will be some nice communication.”
The Phillies will be shutting down on Monday, July 4th. Except for the shortened seasons in 2020 and 1981, this is set to be their first July 4 holiday since 1916.
They picked things up on Tuesday with the Patriots, who could miss out on their best player after Juan Soto left Sunday’s game with a tight calf. The Phils have won four of five this season over the Nats, who compete 6-26 against the NL East.
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