PHILADELPHIA — Zack Wheeler was carving through the Braves lineup Saturday afternoon, but the Phillies had yet to provide their pitcher with any run support. They started the fifth inning of an eventual 4-0 win with consecutive strikeouts, seeming to set the stage for another scoreless frame.
Then three straight batters reached to load the bases and brought up Wheeler with two outs. If anyone was going to provide Wheeler with run support, it would have to be himself.
And he delivered. Wheeler singled to right field to drive in a run and Rhys Hoskins followed by driving in two more.
The Phillies had their support for Wheeler, who struck out 10 in seven scoreless innings. An inning later, Wheeler added another RBI with a double to left. He became the first Phillies pitcher since Cliff Lee in 2013 to have multiple hits, multiple RBIs, and double-digit strikeouts.
It was Wheeler’s first game batting with the Phillies since signing with the team before last season. He held his own at the plate during his time with the Mets, but the Phillies didn’t get to see him swing last summer when the National League adopted the designated hitter. Wheeler, who said last month that he takes pride in his hitting, didn’t look like a pitcher trying to bat.
Wheeler threw 90 pitches and maxed out at 99.8 mph. He attacked with his fastball and sinker, allowed just one hit, and walked none. Wheeler retired the final 17 batters he faced and generated 16 swings and misses. He was good enough Saturday that one run would have been enough support.
The Phillies played Saturday without Adam Haseley, but they are not concerned with the hamstring injury that forced Haseley out during Thursday’s season opener. Girardi said Haseley is expected to play Sunday after resting Saturday. Haseley injured his groin early in spring training but recovered in time for opening day. And then his hamstring tightened.
Roman Quinn started Saturday in center field, which is shaping up to be a timeshare between Quinn and Haseley. Quinn was hit by a pitch in the fifth to load the bases for Wheeler.
“There’s no exact science to it,” Girardi said. “If I’m giving Haseley days off, a lot of time it’s going to be against left-handers. If Quinn has some good days or one of them gets hot, I’ll play him. I would’ve probably played Haseley today had he not gone through that, but I wouldn’t have run him out four or five days in a row just because he hasn’t played a lot ... They’re both going to have to help out.”
