The Phillies joined a matchup between two notable right-handers on Sunday Night Baseball, where they beat the Cardinals 4-0 to go on a big losing streak against the team that is chasing them in the NL Finals.
Zach Wheeler outscored Adam Wainwright by seven innings before a scoreless crowd of 44,225, which is the Phils’ second sellout of the season. Wheeler was on 94 pitches in six innings, but left for Game 7 because Game 6 was his fastest at-bat and the Phillies needed to extend him. Seranthony Dominguez, Brad Hand and Jose Alvarado all sold out two days in a row, so it was important that Wheeler was able to finish seventh.
“You have a kind 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 field went up, I knew I had to stay in touch with my progress and I was able to do it.”
The Phillies are 7-2 in their last nine series and are 42-38 in a single game before the official half of their season. They trail St. Louis by 1 1/2 games for the final NL wild-card spot after winning two of three this weekend. The teams meet again next weekend in a four-game series.
Rhys Hoskins put the Phils on the board with a solo run at home in the fourth inning, his 17th. He then led sixth with two goals and Nick Castellanos’ solo strike to shallow left midfield. JT Realmuto followed two attackers later with a two-step shot.
In his last 25 games, Hoskins hit .341/.443/.750 with 7 doubles, 9 home hurdles and 17 RBIs. He, too, dove in the eighth inning Sunday for an outing that would have resulted in two Cardinals on board to lead the standings against Nick Nelson.
“It’s a big win for the series,” Hoskins said. “We haven’t played much in the middle yet and being able to get a chain win now, a chain win against the Brewers, the top two teams, is always a good sign as a yardstick.”
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 away from expansion, allowing just one of these runners to advance into the scoring center. He was at his best in his last two frames and retired the last of the nine batters he faced to improve to 7-4 with a 2.66 ERA.
It was a huge rebound after starting twice below Wheeler’s level. He was carried deep twice and made three stops on 6 runs Tuesday against the Braves and put 10 guys on base in just 4 degrees the week before at Texas. Those games came after he went 6-0 with a 1.40 ERA in nine games from April 28 to June 22.
“I ran into him and it’s really awkward,” Hoskins said of his teammate. “You know exactly what you are going to get. He will probably go deeper into the game and there will be good communication ».
The Phillies will close on Monday, July 4. Except for shorter seasons in 2020 and 1981, this will be its first July 4 holiday since 1916.
They picked things up Tuesday with the Patriots, who could lose their best player after Juan Soto left Sunday’s game with a strained calf. The Phils have won four of five this season over the Nats, who compete 6-26 against the NL East.
