On Saturday, news broke of Taijuan Walker signing with the Angels on a minor league deal. I’ve always felt the hate directed at Walker was a bit over the top. Sure, he wasn’t good, but he did have some stretches where he was an effective pitcher for the team. His time here was clearly up and they made the correct move in getting rid of him, but since they made that decision, something has changed.
That something is Zack Wheeler returning and being his usual, Cy Young caliber self.
It seems as though the season has turned on his return, which isn’t too surprising since going from Walker to Wheeler is quite the leap forward in talent. But it’s nights like tonight, where Wheeler didn’t have this top top stuff and was still able to carve up the Cleveland lineup. However, his offense was once again stymied by the Guardians starter, this time in the form of Slade Cecconi.
Cecconi was going through the Phillies lineup similarly to what Gavin Williams did last night. He was matched by Wheeler, perhaps even beaten, particularly in the fourth inning. In that inning, Chase DeLauter doubled to begin the inning, wobbling Wheeler a bit. He responded as pitchers of his caliber do by striking out the next two hitters and getting the third to ground out harmlessly to first to end that threat. Good teams respond to that by getting their starter some runs and that’s what the Phillies did.
In their half of the inning, with one out, Bryce Harper and Alec Bohm hit back to back singles to get things started. Brandon Marsh grounded out on a spectacular play by Kyle Manzardo to put the runners on second and third with two outs and Bryson Stott up, the team needing something to break their scoreless inning streak. Stott delivered and the Phillies were up, 2-0.
Wheeler continued dominating the Guardians, eventually going six innings and only allowing two hits and one walk, lowering his season ERA to 1.67. In the bottom of the sixth, Harper and Bohm got on to start things off, then were joined on a walk by Stott. J.T. Realmuto struck out for the second out to bring up the horrendously struggling Adolis Garcia. Somehow, he worked a walked and an insurance run was added, making it 3-0.
From there, the bullpen trio of Orion Kerkering, Brad Keller and Jhoan Duran were able to keep Cleveland off the board, only allowing one combined baserunner and never really being threatened. The losing streak of three games was snapped and the Phillies are back at .500. These two teams will be playing (maybe!) tomorrow in the rubber match to see who takes the series.