Wheeler was one pitch from a perfect game, a fifth-inning home run by Austin Hays. And that was it.
No other Cincinnati player reached first base, no other Reds player came close to a hit as Wheeler retired 27 of 28 with 12 strikeouts.
Wheeler mowed down hitters as if he were bowling and knocking down pins, strike after strike after strike.
Wheeler, 9-and-3 with a 2.17 earned run average, publicly announced he wants to start next week’s All-Star game in Atlanta and Sunday he sent a multi-colored calling card that he deserves it.
And Cy Young? Yeah, that, too. He finished second last year to Chris Sale and second to Corbin Burnes two years ago. His credentials are more than validated.
Before Hays homered, Wheeler had gone 23 straight innings without giving up an earned run. In his last four starts over 30 innings he has given up one earned run, 14 hits, six walks and struck out 38.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
After he pitched a 1-2-3 eighth with two strikeouts, the 42,055 fans gave him a standing ovation as he walked to the dugout. With his 100th pitch, he struck out Tyler Stephenson with a 99 miles an hour fastball.
As he pitched the ninth, the crowd stood and chanted, “Whee-ler, Whee-ler, Whee-ler.” He finished off the Reds easily in the ninth and led the inning by making Will Benson his 12th strikeout victim.
“He has all the weapons,” Reds manager Tito Francona told reporters after the game. “And he has the last weapon, the will to compete. You don’t see guys going out for the ninth too much any more. That was impressive.”
And through all that, the Reds had a chance to win. Hays is not popular in Philadelphia. He played through injuries all last year for the Phillies, but the fans booed him lustily every time he stuck his neck out of the dugout the entire weekend while the Phillies took two of three.
Wheeler retired the first 12 Reds, but it was 0-0 when Hays led the fifth with his home run.
“Hays put on a real good swing and we’re trying to make that one swing carry us and we competed,” said Francona. “We had a chance, but that’s a hard way to win.”
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
The Phillies tied it in the bottom of the fifth.
Although Burns littered the base paths with runners, he held the Phillies to no runs and two hits through four innings. For the game, the Phillies were 0 for 10 with runners in scoring position and stranded 10.
Burns issued his fourth walk with one out in the fifth to No. 9 hitter Brandon Marsh. When Trea Turner lined out to right for the second out, Francona decided to bring in left-hander Sam Moll to face left-hander Kyle Schwarber. Schwarber was 0 for 5 with four strikeouts against Moll.
But on a full count, Moll fed Schwarber a fastball and few pitchers can sneak a fastball past the Middletown native. He whacked it up the right-center gap for a double that scored Marsh to tie it, 1-1.
And despite their futility against Wheeler, Scott Barlow and Graham Ashcraft kept it at 1-1. But not Tony Santillan.
Santillan entered the eighth and gave up a one-out bloop single by J.T. Realmuto. That brought up No. 8 hitter Bryson Stott, on a mini-slide of 1 for 11.
Stott fouled off three Santillan fastballs and Santillan tried another on 1-and-2, a 97 miles an hour four-seamer, and Stott bludgeoned it 405 feet into the right field seats for the 3-1 margin.
“You know what, he (Santillan) is so good, been so good and will be so good, but he just left a fastball in the wrong place,” said Francona.
It was a mixed bag start for Chase Burns after he retired only one Boston Red Sox hitter and gave up seven runs in one-third of an inning during his previous start. There was talk that Burns might have been tipping his pitches.
“We found a couple of things that might help,” said pitching coach Derek Johnson before game. “And he did make some bad pitches.”
It was a shaky start Sunday, too. The first two Phillies reached on Trea Turner’s single and a four-pitch walk to Schwarber. But he struck out Bryce Harper and that seemed to boost his confidence.
Harper struck out six times in a row during the series and seven times in 10 official at bats.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Burns struck out three in the first, walked two in the second but struck out three, pitched a 1-2-3 third with a strikeout and gave up a single in the fourth with another strikeout.
So his work sheet was 4 2/3 innings, one run, two hits, four walks, seven strikeouts.
Of the pitch-tipping discussions, Burns said, “We did a lot of reps this week for some touch and feels, went through my motions to make sure I’m not giving any teams an advantage. It helped my mechanics a lot.”
Burns felt he stabilized after he struck out Harper in the first.
“After the first two batters, I just took a deep breath and took it pitch-by-pitch, get one out at a time,” he said.
Assignments haven’t been easy for the 22-year-old rookie who began this season at High-A Dayton — a debut in Great American Ball Park against the New York Yankees, the short-short start in Fenway Park and Sunday’s start against the first-place Phillies in enemy confines.
Asked what he learned, he snickered and told reporters, “A lot, more than I can even say. Just talking to the guys, our other starters, has helped me a lot. We’ve joked around about how I’m going against three really good lineups.
“I’ve been thrown into the fire, so that’s the best way to learn,” he added.
And watching Zack Wheeler.
NEXT GAME
Who: Miami at Cincinnati, 7:05 p.m.
When: 7:05 p.m., Monday, July 7
TV: FanDuel Sports
Radio: 1410-AM, 700-AM
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