Zack Wheeler fired a sinker that just dotted the outside corner of the strike zone, freezing Marlins second baseman Otto Lopez.
Home plate umpire Manny Gonzalez rung Lopez up and Wheeler walked off the mound, his work done for the night. The strikeout was Wheeler’s 13th across seven innings in the Phillies’ 7-2 series-opening win over Miami on Friday.
Wheeler followed up a dominant 12-strikeout performance from Cristopher Sánchez the night prior against San Francisco. The duo became the first Phillies pitchers to record 12 or more strikeouts in consecutive games since April 2011, when Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee completed the feat.
“It’s always a friendly competition,” Wheeler said. “You just try to outdo the guy the day before you. And I think that’s what pushes good staffs, is just that friendly, competitive competition.”
Wheeler — who had pitched without any run support at all in his previous start, a 7-0 shutout loss to the Cardinals — had plenty of breathing room to back up his performance.
The Phillies offense was all over Marlins starter Sandy Alcantara, chasing him from the game after only two innings with his pitch count already up to 61. They hadn’t faced the 2022 Cy Young winner in more than a year and a half, since Alcantara missed all of 2024 after undergoing Tommy John surgery.
Bryce Harper got the scoring started in the first inning with a two-run homer to the second deck of right field.
“[Harper] just told me that he’s glad he could get me off to a 2-0 start,” Wheeler said. “He’s been trying to do that for a while. I’ll always take it for sure.”
The bottom of the order came through in the second inning. They capitalized on a walk, three straight singles, two wild pitches, and a sacrifice fly to score four more runs.
“[Alcantara] probably wasn’t as sharp as he normally is, but I thought we were very disciplined,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said.
Kyle Schwarber continued his dominance of left-handed pitching with his seventh home run of the year, this time off Marlins reliever Anthony Veneziano in the fifth inning. Schwarber is averaging .440 with a 1.040 slugging percentage against lefties this season.
Meanwhile, Wheeler held the Marlins off the scoreboard until the third time through the order. Eric Wagaman barreled up a first-pitch sinker for a two-run homer in the sixth inning. So far this season, Wheeler has a 12.46 ERA in the sixth inning of his starts, compared to a 3.73 ERA overall.
He rebounded well in the seventh by striking out the side, departing the mound to a standing ovation.
Wheeler did not walk a single batter, and missed a lot of bats with his four-seam and his splitter. Collectively, they generated 18 swings-and-misses.
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“I made a couple adjustments between last start and this start of just getting into my push leg and getting over on my front landing leg a little bit better,” Wheeler said. “And my fastball was just playing a little different, spinning nice and true, how you want it to be. And the split was just playing well off that.”
Former Phillie and South Jersey native Tyler Phillips pitched the eighth for Miami, facing the heart of the order. He overcame a pair of walks to Harper and Schwarber to toss a scoreless frame.
Both Harper and Schwarber have drawn 17 walks this year, tying the Giants’ Matt Chapman and the Braves’ Marcell Ozuna for the most in baseball.
“When I walk more, I see more pitches and I feel better at the plate,” Harper said. “I think when I walk, good things happen.”
Phillies relievers Tanner Banks and José Ruiz each pitched a scoreless inning to shut the door.
Nick Castellanos was back in the starting lineup after being lifted from the game on Thursday with a left hip flexor strain. He went 2-for-3, but was removed for Kody Clemens in the fifth inning after winning a 10-pitch at-bat against Veneziano with a base hit.
Thomson said the move was precautionary, as the Phillies were leading 7-0 at the time. Castellanos, who is hitting .319 with a .900 OPS, will be back in the lineup on Saturday.
