PHILADELPHIA -- Nights like Wednesday remind everybody why the Phillies signed Zack Wheeler to one of the most lucrative contracts in baseball history.
He looked like the perennial Cy Young Award candidate he is in a 5-1 victory over the Rockies at Citizens Bank Park. On a chilly night that had most players wearing long sleeves underneath their jerseys, Wheeler walked to the mound in the top of the first inning in short sleeves, like always.
Nothing ever seems to faze him.
¡°He¡¯s the total package,¡± Phillies shortstop Trea Turner said.
Wheeler allowed three hits and one run and struck out 10 in seven innings. He got 25 swings and misses, his most whiffs in a regular-season start in his career and the most by any pitcher in MLB this season. (Wheeler had 30 whiffs in Game 1 of the 2024 NLDS against the Mets.)
Wheeler, who is in the first-year of a three-year, $126 million contract extension, has pitched six or more innings and allowed two or fewer earned runs in 13 consecutive regular-season starts. It is the longest streak in baseball since Tampa Bay¡¯s Shane McClanahan had a 13-game streak in 2022.
Eighteen pitchers have a 13-game streak like that since earned runs became an official statistic in the NL in 1912 and in the AL in 1913. Tom Seaver did it twice. Others in the group include Randy Johnson, Greg Maddux, Dwight Gooden, Gaylord Perry, Luis Tiant, Don Drysdale and Walter Johnson.
And now, Wheeler.
It¡¯s almost like he¡¯s taken for granted at this point.
¡°Not by me,¡± Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. ¡°Not by his teammates, either.¡±
Wheeler¡¯s streak is the longest by a Phillies pitcher since 1912. Dutch Leonard had 12 consecutive starts like that in 1947, although he had a relief appearance mixed in.
¡°It¡¯s almost like he lulls you to sleep a little bit,¡± Turner said of Wheeler.
Wheeler threw a lot of fastballs on Wednesday, which is not a surprise. He threw 60 out of 105 pitches overall. They weren¡¯t his best.
¡°My fastball command was struggling a little bit,¡± Wheeler said. ¡°Maybe it didn¡¯t look that way, but in the bullpen it was. I was kind of just throwing it up there tonight, hoping for the best with that. But the offspeed was working well.¡±
Wheeler struck out three with his four-seam fastball, three with his splitter, two with his curveball, one with his cutter and one with his sweeper.
The only mistake he made was an elevated 2-0 sinker that Hunter Goodman hit for a solo homer in the seventh to make it 2-1.
"He doesn't make too many mistakes middle,¡± Rockies designated hitter Kris Bryant said. ¡°If he does, it's going to be up in the zone at the top of the zone. Then he's also throwing the splitter to lefties and the curveball. He threw [Ryan McMahon] some cutters his last at-bat. He had it all working today. ¡ That guy, he's just so competitive."
¡°He¡¯s considered one of the best for a reason,¡± Rockies center fielder Brenton Doyle said.
The Phillies took a 2-0 lead in the fourth. Kyle Schwarber laced a double down the left-field line to score Alec Bohm from first to take a 1-0 lead. Schwarber advanced to third on a fielder¡¯s choice. He scored on J.T. Realmuto¡¯s dribbler in front of the plate. Goodman picked up the ball and fired to first. Schwarber broke for home as soon as Goodman threw it.
He beat the throw back to the plate, upending Freeland and giving the Phillies a 2-0 lead.
After Goodman¡¯s homer cut the lead to one, Edmundo Sosa and Johan Rojas helped to score an insurance run in the seventh. Sosa hit a leadoff single to right. He advanced to second on a passed ball and to third on Rojas¡¯ sacrifice bunt before scoring on Turner¡¯s single.
Rojas went 2-for-2 with a walk, including a bunt hit in the fifth.
¡°This was the best Major League game he¡¯s played,¡± Thomson said. ¡°That¡¯s exactly what he needs to do. He needs to move runners, put the ball in play, sacrifice, play good defense.¡±
Bunt hits, sacrifices, great plays in the field -- those are the things that can help Wheeler win a Cy Young one day. An insurance run here can secure an extra win. A good catch there can shave a point or two off his ERA.
¡°I did my job,¡± Rojas said.