Almost no no to Wheeler and Castellanos’ best night in Phils’ win over White Sox originally appeared in NBC Sports Philadelphia
Rob Thomson probably breathed a sigh of relief when Korey Lee sent Bryce Harper’s single to right field in the eighth inning on Saturday night.
Their ace, Zack Wheeler, threw 105 pitches with a nine-run lead and eight outs remaining in an unsuccessful effort. It’s a difficult situation for a manager who needs to keep the long game in mind, especially with a pitcher as crucial to the Phillies’ ultimate goal as Wheeler.
It didn’t seem like a fair fight on paper – one of the two or three best starters in baseball against the worst team in any league – and boy, it wasn’t.
Wheeler’s night began with a pesky 10-pitch walk by Nicky Lopez, but he retired the next 13 pitches without a ball leaving the infield. His only other baserunner through the eighth inning was a hit batter with one out in the fifth. He opened the eighth with 101 pitches, so he would need back-to-back single-digit innings, which is never likely.
Coincidentally, this was the same point in the game that Wheeler lost an unsuccessful bid last June 8 against the Tigers when he gave up a single with one out in the eighth.
The Phillies scored three runs in the second and two each in the fifth, sixth and seventh in a 9-5 victory. Chicago struck out and scored all five runs against Ricardo Pinto in the ninth. The Phils didn’t start the inning figuring they would need to go to Jose Alvarado, but rather the final out.
Thomson faced tough decisions this week because of how well his starters pitched. Ranger Suarez threw a shutout on Tuesday and would have been removed if he had put one more man on base. Spencer Turnbull threw a no-hitter into the seventh inning on Friday.
All these arguments add up. Michael Lorenzen struck out 124 in his no-hitter last August, then had an 8.01 ERA the rest of the season. Johan Santana famously was never the same after his 134-pitch ban. It doesn’t always happen that way, but there’s no need to take any chances with a pitcher who has carried as large a workload as anyone over the past five years.
The Phillies rotation has been unbelievably good this season and at its best this week. These are the last five matches:
· Zack Wheeler: 7⅓ IP, 1 H, 0 R, 8 K
· Spencer Turnbull: 7 IP, 1 H, 0 R
Christopher Sanchez: 6 IP, 0 ER, 10 K
Ranger Suarez: 9 IP, 0 R, 8 K
· Aaron Nola: 7⅓ IP, 1 R, 9 K
Completely: 36⅔ IP, 18 H, 1 ER, 7 BB, 41 K
After beating the National League’s worst Rockies, the Phillies outscored the American League’s worst White Sox 16–5 in consecutive victories. The Phils are 13-8 after winning five straight games and eight of 10. You can only play the team in front of you that night and they did an admirable job this week of capitalizing on their opponents’ misfortunes.
This White Sox team isn’t just regular bad, it’s a special kind of terrible. For starters, they never spend money, but they have stripped their roster over the last two years of virtually every useful veteran without infusing much young talent. Without the injured Luis Robert Jr., they have a player who could be in the lineup every day for a good team: Eloy Jimenez, whose career has been marred by injuries.
But that’s not the Phillies’ problem. You have so many opportunities against the worst teams in baseball and they did what they were supposed to do: jump out to the lead and strangle clubs destined for 100+ losses.
Wheeler received just five runs of support in his first four starts and that nearly tripled on Saturday.
Brandon Marsh opened the scoring when he took a fly ball from former Braves right-hander Mike Soroka and hit it over the wall in right center for a two-run home run.
Nick Castellanos followed with a triple off the top of the wall in right, his first extra-base hit of the season in his 79th plate appearance. He scored on a two-strike single to left by Johan Rojas.
Castellanos had his best night of the season after going hitless in his last 16 at-bats. He had the opposite field triple, an opposite field single, another well-struck single up the middle to drive in two runs and a walk. He would have accepted any kind of three-hit night, but it’s often a promising sign when he’s hitting the ball with authority the other way.
Rojas has been productive at the plate lately, going 11-for-27 (.385) over the last nine games with two doubles, two walks and four stolen bases. He is hitting .245 with a .315 on-base percentage. If he finishes the season with those numbers, it will be a win for the Phillies with their elite defense and ability to steal a base virtually every time he arrives. He might be the fastest player on a team that includes Trea Turner.
Turner (.353 BA) stayed hot with two hits, including a two-run double.
The Phillies go for the sweep Sunday afternoon with Nola on the mound.
