Phillies use Zack Wheeler gem to shutout Cardinals 4-0, earning key series victory
The Phillies received a gem from starting pitcher Zack Wheeler and shutout the Cardinals 4-0, to take the key weekend series and get one game closer to wild-card contention.
Phillies (42-38) Beat Cardinals (44-37)
- Winning Pitcher: Zack Wheeler (7-4, 2.66)
- Losing Pitcher: Adam Wainwright (6-6, 3.26)
- Save: n/a
With both Jacob DeGrom and Max Scherzer currently sidelined with injuries, you would struggle to find a better pitcher in the National League than Zack Wheeler. Wheeler continued his dominance at Citizens Bank Park by tossing seven shutout innings over the wild-card leading Cardinals on Sunday night in front of a packed July 4th weekend crowd.
Wheeler allowed only fours hits while striking out five and walking only one batter on the way to lowering his ERA on the season to 2.66. Wheeler cruised throwing 72 of his 108 pitches for strikes while only allowing three Cardinals runners into scoring position.
Rhys Hoskins continues to be the catalyst for the Phillies offense, going 2-4 with a solo home run in the 4th inning and a double in the 6th, that led to the teams second run when Nick Castellanos drove him in with an RBI single.
Cardinals starting pitcher Adam Wainwright ended up allowing four earned runs in 5.2 innings, but was matching Wheeler pitch for pitch early in the game, thanks to his world-class curveball.
JT Realmuto knocked Wainwright out of the game with a two run home run with one out in the 6th inning that opened up the Phillies lead to 4-0. It was just the 6th home run of the season for Realmuto who has struggled to provide power and drive in runs for a limited Phils offense.
Nick Nelson walked a batter in the 8th inning, but otherwise looked sharp as he combined with Corey Knebel for two hitless innings of relief.
NL Player of the Month in June, Kyle Schwarber and Bryson Stott were the only hitters in the lineup that failed to record a hit.
With the victory the Phillies are now just 1.5 GB of the Cardinals and are now only 7.5 GB of the division leading New York Mets.
The Phillies have an off-day on the 4th of July for the first time since 1916. Without baseball, spend some extra time with your friends and family and try to manage not to blow your hand off with fireworks like Jason Pierre Paul.
HAPPY JULY 4th!
JT Realmuto throws out a runner attempting to steal in the 4th inning. Is there a better defensive catcher in baseball? I think not.
Rhys Hoskins puts the Phils on the board with a solo home run in the 4th inning off Cardinals starter Adam Wainwright.
1-0 Phils
Nick Castellanos drives in Rhys Hoskins from second base with an RBI-single that should have been a double if not for Nick’s lack of hustle. Cmon Nick!
2-0 Phils
JT Realmuto finally makes Adam Wainwright pay for leaving a looping curveball up in the zone, by taking him deep for a two-run shot in the 6th inning.
4-0 Phils
Zack Wheeler punches out Nolan Gorman for his 7th of the night.
Corey Knebel gets Nolan Arenado to go down to one knee as he strikes him out in the 9th inning. That sure feels good after Arenado killed the Phils in the first two games of the series, hitting for a cycle and adding a two home run game on Saturday.
Corey Knebel gets Nolan Gorman swinging to finish a clean 1-2-3 9th inning.
PHILS WIN 4-0!
Up Next for the Phillies
The Phillies have a scheduled off-day on Monday before they welcome the division rival Washington Nationals for a three-game set at Citizens Bank Park.
So far no starters have been annunced..
TBD (0-0, 0.00) will toe the rubber facing off against Adam Wainwright (0-0, 0.00) with the first pitch scheduled for 7:05 pm.
NBC Sports Philadelphia will carry the broadcast of the game.
Mandatory Photo Credit: Philadelphia Phillies
