Zack Wheeler was hot, and not just because of the heat.
Wheeler labored through 4⅔ innings Wednesday night in a 10-6 Phillies victory over the Pirates, and upon being lifted after 104 pitches, he walked off mound as if he didn’t hear the crowd’s obligatory ovation.
It was Wheeler’s shortest start since June 16, 2024 at Baltimore and snapped a streak of 53 starts in which he completed at least five innings.
Did the Phillies’ co-ace — the highest-paid pitcher in baseball this season with a $42 million salary — want interim manager Don Mattingly to give him a chance to get through the fifth again?
“Obviously,” Wheeler said. “I feel like I’ve earned that.”
Wheeler said he hadn’t talked it over yet with Mattingly. Asked if he planned to, he said, “I don’t know.”
Informed by a team spokesperson of Wheeler’s comments, Mattingly, who has steered the Phillies to a 40-19 record since taking over for fired Rob Thomson, deferred a response until Thursday. It’s the first real test of his leadership.
Zack Wheeler was not happy with being taken out of the game before the end of the 5th tonight. pic.twitter.com/64kUsHmZQo
By not finishing the fifth inning, Wheeler was ineligible to get credit for the win. At the discretion of the official scorer, the win went to reliever Orion Kerkering, who pitched a scoreless eighth inning.
To be fair, Wheeler had chances to get out of the fifth inning. After getting two quick outs, he gave up back-to-back singles to Esmerlyn Valdez and Ryan O’Hearn. With Wheeler’s pitch count up to 101 and action in the bullpen, pitching coach Caleb Cotham — not Mattingly — made a mound visit.
Wheeler stayed in the game, and three pitches later, gave up a bloop RBI single to Nick Gonzales. At that point, having matched his season-high for pitches in a start and pitching in oppressive heat (96 degrees at first pitch), Wheeler was lifted.
Lefty reliever Kyle Backhus hit back-to-back batters to force in a run that was charged to Wheeler, whose final line was four runs, nine hits, one walk, and 10 strikeouts. His ERA inched up from 2.03 to 2.36.
“I thought Wheels hung in there,” Mattingly said. “It was one of those nights that his pitch count got extended early, and he didn’t get ahead in the count as much as I’m sure he would like. He gave up some soft contact for hits that just extended his pitch count. It was one of those nights.”
Wheeler, 36, has made a wildly successful return after surgery last September in which a rib was removed to relieve a compressed vein near his collarbone. Earlier Wednesday, before a matchup with Pirates ace Paul Skenes, Mattingly suggested Wheeler might actually be underrated for a two-time Cy Young Award runner-up.
“I don’t think people quite realize how good this guy is,” Mattingly said. “I just don’t think they realize. Within the industry, for sure. But with fans, he’s a quiet guy. There’s not a lot of hype around him. He just kind of just constantly pitches well. And I just want to keep his attention talked about like other guys.”
When you’re a two-time batting champion in the midst of a three-month slump, everyone looks for the littlest hint of a breakout. A line drive here, a home run there, anything to forecast the inevitable hot streak.
“When [reporters] ask me if I’m back, I’m like, ‘I don’t know,’” the Phillies’ star shortstop said recently. “Like, I’ve got to do it for three, four days. You could have a good game here or there, but it’s about consistency.”
OK, then. How about two weeks’ worth of good games? Or three consecutive games with a homer? Or turning on a sweeper from Paul Skenes and hitting it into the left-field seats Wednesday night to power a 10-6 pounding of the Pirates, the Phillies’ seventh win in nine games?
“I feel like the last three or four weeks have been pretty solid,” Turner said. “I know how good I am. I know how good I can be, focusing on the last three weeks and getting back to two-strike hitting and scoring runs. I feel like I’ve scored runs at a really good clip because the guys behind me are playing so well.
“But that’s my job, to score runs, so I feel like the last few weeks have been really good.”
Interim manager Don Mattingly seems amused by the topic. After Turner doubled, homered, and drove in three runs on his 33rd birthday Tuesday night, Mattingly answered a question with two playful questions: “Is he coming back? Is he going yet?”
Phillies co-ace Zack Wheeler gave up four runs in only 4⅔ innings Wednesday night.
But it’s clear Turner has rediscovered … something. He said he has been pleased with his two-strike approach. He’s making better adjustments within a game. After popping up in his first at-bat against Skenes, he ditched his leg kick before the home run.
Most importantly, Mattingly noted that Turner isn’t swinging at as many pitches out of the strike zone.
“He’s always going to chase a little bit,” Mattingly said. “But when it’s not in the other batter’s box, you know he’s starting to see the ball and take some closer pitches, foul some balls off, and get to balls.”
Add it up, and since June 17, when he was reinstalled in the leadoff spot, Turner is 21-for-60 to hike his average from .216 to .239 and his OPS from .595 to .655.
It’s still not the production that Turner is accustomed to, but hey, it’s a start.
“I feel like [the numbers] are not going to look good probably no matter what I do for a while,” he said. “Just try to focus on some good progress and then keep rolling with it and see where they end up at the end of the year.”
Turner’s revival is happening at a perfect time. Not only are the Phillies (49-38) closing fast on the division-leading Braves, going from 9½ games out on June 7 to only 2½, but the trade deadline is looming on Aug. 3.
The Phillies entered play Wednesday with the lowest OPS in baseball from their right-handed hitters (.607). But as much as they needed another bat from the right side, they’re unlikely to be able to acquire one as good as Turner.
In case any of the 41,766 paying customers forgot after Turner finished fifth in the NL MVP race last season, his tone-setting ability was on display again in the worst start of Skenes’ career.
A presupposed pitchers’ duel between Skenes and Zack Wheeler turned into a dud. The Phillies thumped Skenes for eight runs (seven earned) in four innings; Wheeler gave up four runs and wasn’t happy to be lifted with two out in the fifth inning after 104 pitches, snapping his streak of 53 starts of at least five innings dating back to June 2024.
“I feel like I’ve earned that,” Wheeler said.
The Phillies hit Pirates ace Paul Skenes for eight runs (seven earned) Wednesday night.
Neither ace exhibited his usual command. And Skenes was hurt by the Pirates’ defense. With the bases loaded in the second inning, Justin Crawford chopped a ball to third baseman Nick Gonzales, whose throw to the plate hit Alec Bohm and rolled away, enabling two runs to score.
Up stepped Turner, who got a sweeper on the inner half of the plate and pulled it out to left field for a three-run homer.
Skenes hadn’t allowed more than five runs in any of his previous 72 major league starts. The Phillies hung a five-spot on him in the second inning. Brandon Marsh tacked on a leadoff homer in the third before Bryce Harper’s two-run double in the fourth opened an 8-2 lead.
It wasn’t the first time the Phillies conquered Skenes. They clipped him for five runs May 17 in Pittsburgh. He has allowed 39 earned runs all season; 12 have come against the Phillies.
“Our club’s not really afraid of anybody,” Mattingly said. “It doesn’t matter who the guy is. We’ve got guys who’ve had success in their career, and you’re not shying away from guys like this.”
Turner added: “I think we’ve got a good team.”
The Phillies are on a 109-win pace under Mattingly (40-19) after a 9-19 start that prompted a managerial change.
And now they’ve got Turner playing like Turner again.
“Somebody asked me earlier, when do I feel like Trea’s going good,” Mattingly said. “Once a guy gets rolling, I mean, you know it’s there and he finds the field. … Trea’s been going for a while now.”
Brad Keller knew something was wrong a few weeks ago when he rolled over in bed, reached for the pillow, and felt an ache in his right elbow.
When he pitched, though, everything seemed normal.
But the right-handed reliever reached a tipping point on June 14. He threw 32 pitches and gave up three runs in the eighth inning the night before in a Phillies victory in Milwaukee, then woke up and couldn’t straighten his elbow.
So, Wednesday was an important day for Keller. After facing hitters for the first time in 2½ weeks in live batting practice, he was eager to see how his arm bounced back. Keller has been on the injured list since June 16 (retroactive to June 14) with right forearm tendinitis.
“It’s a night-and-day difference,” Keller said. “Like even just waking up, I remember there would be times where I’d grab a pillow and it would hurt. Today I didn’t have any of that, so I’m really happy with that.”
Next up: Keller will pitch in a minor league game Friday night, interim manager Don Mattingly said. Depending on how he responds, he could be reinstated from the injured list after that.
Regardless, the Phillies expect Keller to return before the All-Star break.
Phillies reliever Brad Keller has a 4.15 ERA in 31 appearances this season.
“If it continues on this path, for sure,” Mattingly said. “He hasn’t been down very long, and he was throwing fairly quickly. I don’t know why you would need a ton of outings down there. So, yeah, if everything goes good, I think we would get him back before the break.”
It will represent a boost for a bullpen that has been tested lately. The Phillies signed Keller to a two-year, $22 million contract in the offseason to fortify the bridge to closer Jhoan Duran. In his absence, the bullpen has posted a 4.26 ERA compared to 3.98 before he was sidelined.
Keller overcame a rocky start and had allowed three earned runs over 12⅔ innings in a span of 13 appearances before the blowup in Milwaukee. Overall, the 30-year-old righty has a 4.15 ERA in 31 appearances.
“We were kind of pinpointing some things that I was doing, more so [pitch] usage-wise and stuff,” Keller said. “And then there was some other stuff, like some mechanical things that maybe have led to this.”
Keller said he began feeling an unusual amount of soreness after back-to-back appearances in Boston in mid-May. It would surface when he played catch before games, subside, and then come back.
“Last year, I literally was never sore,” he said. “And this year, I was battling with this stuff, and all of a sudden, something mechanically is not right.”
Keller will return a little less than a month before the Aug. 3 trade deadline and could inform the Phillies’ approach. They have other needs, including a right-handed bat and back-end starter. If Keller pitches well upon his return, it would lessen the need for another late-inning reliever.
Justin Crawford had three hits in the Phillies’ victory Tuesday night.
Crawford adjusts
Justin Crawford hit .322 in the minors, including .334 last season in triple A to win the International League batting title.
It hasn’t gone as smoothly in the majors.
Crawford got off to a promising start, then slumped as the league adjusted to him. But he has worked with hitting coach Kevin Long to shorten his leg kick, even eliminating it at times.
Over his last 16 games entering Wednesday night, the rookie center fielder was 18-for-48 (.375) with a .400 on-base percentage. He finished with three hits Tuesday night, including a two-run cue shot down the left-field line in the second inning.
“I’m definitely working on being shorter to the ball,” Crawford said. “Just trying to take a little bit of that extra movement out, making me a tick late on the ball. I’ve definitely been trying to do that a little bit. It’s been good.”
Gabriel Rincones Jr. remained in the lineup on Wednesday amid his recent slump.
Extra bases
Amid a 5-for-38 slide to begin his major league career, lefty-hitting right fielder Gabriel Rincones Jr. remained in the lineup, even against Pirates ace Paul Skenes. “He’s here for a reason,” Mattingly said. “If he doesn’t play [against a righty], then he shouldn’t be here.” … The Phillies moved veteran outfielder Tommy Pham to triple A after two games in the rookie-level Florida Complex League. Pham, 38, signed a minor league contract last weekend. … Thursday marks the Phillies’ last home game before the All-Star break. They will finish the first half with nine consecutive road games in Kansas City, Cincinnati, and Detroit. … Alan Rangel (0-1, 4.50 ERA) is scheduled to start the series finale at 12:35 p.m. Thursday against Pirates righty Jared Jones (1-1, 5.76).
One year after he was drafted by the Phillies, Gage Wood will make his Citizens Bank Park debut in the Futures Game.
Wood and fellow right-hander Wen-Hui Pan were selected to represent the Phillies in the annual prospect showcase as part of MLB’s All-Star festivities. The seven-inning game takes place July 12 (noon, NBC10).
The Phillies selected Wood with the 26th overall pick last year. After striking out 38% of the batters he faced over eight starts this season at low-A Clearwater, they promoted him two levels to double-A Reading, where he has a 3.86 ERA and 35 strikeouts in 25⅔ innings over seven starts.
Wood, 22, achieved notoriety last year with a no-hitter for Arkansas in the College World Series. He’s widely regarded as the Phillies’ top prospect, though not yet among the top 50 in baseball. MLB Pipeline has him 54th in its midseason rankings, while Baseball America lists him 69th.
Pan, a right-handed reliever, signed with the Phillies as an international amateur from Taiwan in 2023. The 23-year-old missed last season after Tommy John surgery but was promoted to double A roughly two weeks ago.
In 20 appearances at three levels, Pan has a 3.18 ERA and 29 strikeouts in 22⅔ innings, including a 5.40 ERA mark in five games since moving up to Reading.
The future is headed to Citizens Bank Park 🤩
Congratulations to Fightin Phils pitchers Gage Wood and Wen-Hui Pan on being selected to the 2026 All-Star Futures Game! ⭐
— Reading Fightin Phils (@ReadingFightins) July 1, 2026
Like everything about All-Star week, the Futures Game will have a Phillies flavor. Shane Victorino will manage the National League roster, while Larry Bowa will manage the American League. Bowa’s staff will include several former Phillies, notably Michael Bourn (first base coach), Juan Samuel (bench coach), Milt Thompson (hitting coach), and Hall of Fame closer Billy Wagner (pitching coach).
Twelve of the top 13 prospects in Baseball America’s rankings were selected for the Futures Game: infielders Jesús Made (Brewers), Leo De Vries (Athletics), Franklin Arias (Red Sox), George Lombard (Yankees), and Eli Willits (Nationals); outfielders Josue De Paula (Dodgers), Theo Gillen (Rays), and Mike Sirota (Dodgers); pitchers Ryan Sloan (Mariners), Seth Hernandez (Pirates), and Kade Anderson (Mariners); and catcher Ethan Salas (Padres).
Cristopher Sánchez unleashed a first-pitch strike in the second inning and called for a trainer.
Uh-oh.
Three words the Phillies never want to see in the same sentence: “Cristopher Sánchez” and “trainer.” But there they were Tuesday night, and well, Citizens Bank Park held its collective breath.
Sánchez, it turned out, cut loose a changeup and scraped the top of his left thumb, the evidence of which was a blood stain between the red pinstripes on his white pants. He smiled, even chuckled with a few teammates, and a few dabs later, the ace lefty was firing again.
Crisis averted. Sánchez kept throwing his signature changeup without incident, allowing three hits in seven scoreless innings. And the Phillies cakewalked, 8-0, over the Pirates to move within 2½ games of the first-place Braves, who lost at home to the Cardinals.
Oh, and postgame fireworks went off as planned for the 41,710 paying customers.
Scrape? What scrape?
“Yeah, just a little scratch on the finger,” Sánchez said through a team interpreter. “It happens sometimes when I throw the changeup because of the touch with the finger. So, it’s no big deal.”
But that momentary pit-of-their-stomach feeling as assistant athletic trainer Christian Bermudez went out to see Sánchez underscores the precariousness of this entire thing.
Justin Crawford drove in the Phillies’ first two runs with a two-out single in the second inning Tuesday night at Citizens Bank Park.
Look, there isn’t any replacing Sánchez, whose next home start may come for the National League in the All-Star Game in two weeks. He sits atop the rotation with a 2.00 ERA, second in the majors behind only the Brewers’ Jacob Misiorowski (1.45).
But the Phillies lack the organizational pitching depth to cover for any of their starters if they miss even a turn or two. They already have back-of-the-rotation worries, with Aaron Nola’s 6.04 ERA and Andrew Painter’s return to triple A. The fifth-starter spot is occupied by Alan Rangel, who has twice been used behind an opener.
One injury, and it all comes down like a Jenga tower.
Surely, then, an anxious feeling came over interim manager Don Mattingly when Sánchez waved to the dugout.
“Yeah, a little bit,” Mattingly said. “Especially in the second [inning], right? You’re like, ‘Oh, not tonight.’ But once you get out there, you kind of see what it is. It’s not like a cut on a nail or anything like that where you feel like it’s going to keep getting extended. They did a nice job of stopping that.”
Justin Crawford gave Sánchez a 2-0 lead by cueing a two-out single inside the third-base line. It was up to Sánchez to keep it that way because the Phillies didn’t break things open until scoring three runs in both the seventh and eighth innings.
Trea Turner, on his 33rd birthday, had an RBI double in the seventh and a two-run homer in the eighth.
Trea Turner, on his 33rd birthday, levied most of that damage, with an RBI double in the seventh and a two-run homer in the eighth. Don’t look now, but he’s 19-for-55 (.345) over the last 13 games, a welcome sign for an offense that is looking for more production from the right side of the plate.
“Is he going yet?” Mattingly said, mimicking questions about when Turner will get going at the plate. “I don’t know if he’s going yet or not. But to see Trea get a big hit down the line and then the home run, it really extends that lead where it saves us [from using] an arm in the bullpen.”
Sánchez leaned on his changeup, as usual, but continued to spin more sliders. After throwing 26 in his last start, he mixed in 17 against the Pirates, six of which came in his first 19 pitches.
No matter what he throws, Sánchez owns the Pirates. Six weeks ago, he struck out 13, a career-high, in a six-hit shutout in Pittsburgh. This time, he didn’t give up a hit until Nick Gonzales punched a two-out single in the fourth inning.
Sánchez is lined up to pitch Monday in Kansas City and July 11 in Detroit, the closing arguments in his case to start three days later (it would be his bullpen day) in the All-Star Game.
As you may have heard, it will be held in South Philly.
“[It would be] another goal, another dream come true and more when you think about it in this beautiful city,” Sánchez said. “The fans deserve that and even more.”
Symbolically and strategically, Sánchez is a sensible choice to start for the NL. Misiorowski throws harder than any pitcher in history, with a fastball that’s been clocked at 105.5 mph. But Sánchez has allowed seven earned runs in 73 innings for a 0.86 ERA in 11 home starts. Since 2024, he has a 1.76 ERA in 280⅔ innings over 43 starts at home.
In his latest gem, he pitched out of one quasi jam, a two-on, two-out spot in the fourth inning, by striking out Endy Rodríguez on a signature changeup, and sidestepped a one-out double by Billy Cook in the fifth inning.
But even with a 100-degree heat wave rolling into town, it was no sweat compared to the Phillies’ dodging an injury to their ace. As Sánchez received a quick fix on the mound, Turner and other infielders looked on and laughed.
“They were just giving me a hard time and joking around on the mound,” Sánchez said. “You know, these guys are terrible.”
As long as the Phillies keep their pitchers healthy, the good times can keep rolling.
Just a guess, but when you’ve hit as many homers as the Phillies’ star slugger — 30 this season, more than any player in baseball; 370 in his career, tied fittingly with 1969 Miracle Mets manager Gil Hodges for 87th all-time — you probably know it when you feel it.
And so, with one swing, Schwarber covered up another Phillies wart.
“What he’s doing,” left fielder Brandon Marsh said after Schwarber’s two-run homer in the seventh inning here Sunday brought the Phillies back — again — in a 5-4 victory that drew them to within three games of first place in the NL East, “is off the charts.”
With his 408-footer to right-center field against Mets righty Kodai Senga, Schwarber reached the 30-homer mark in the Phillies’ 84th game, faster than any player in franchise history. He didn’t hit No. 30 until the 94th game last season en route to finishing with 56, a career-high.
“After last year, I didn’t think it was easily topped,” said starter Jesús Luzardo, who gave up one run but lasted only five innings. “But I mean, he just keeps making it seem easy.”
In this case, Schwarber got four consecutive forkballs, Senga’s signature pitch, and fouled off the last two to keep the at-bat going. Eventually, Senga had to throw a fastball, and when he did, well, kaboom.
“You’re just trying to get a pitch in the zone and put it in play,” Schwarber said. “There’s no real, look for this, look for that. It’s more just trying to really simplify the approach, and whenever that ball does come, try to put it in play.”
Said Marsh: “I wouldn’t say it was a bad idea for [Senga] to try to sneak a heater in after throwing the 80-mile-an-hour forkball, which is a crazy pitch, by the way. But Kyle just really stayed on that heater and got one in a good spot.”
And just like that, the Phillies had the lead again after Chase Shugart turned a 3-1 lead into a 4-3 deficit in the sixth inning. José Alvarado stranded two runners in the seventh inning and Orion Kerkering tightrope-walked through a bases-loaded jam eighth before Jhoan Duran locked it down in the ninth.
It feels nitpicky after a wildly successful road trip in which the Phillies went 5-2 in Washington and New York and moved to within three games of the division-leading Braves, but their flaws bubbled to the surface last week. They’re vulnerable to left-handed pitching; the middle relief can be exposed when the starter doesn’t go six innings; the defense isn’t good.
But all’s well that ended well, and the Phillies scored 26 runs in the seventh inning or later in the seven games to make sure most of them ended well.
“Well, I don’t know what it tells us, honestly,” interim manager Don Mattingly said. “But it’s good to see that we keep going, like even losing the lead there and coming right back, getting it back.”
Kyle Schwarber watches his two-run home run against the Mets on Sunday.
Said Schwarber: “I don’t know if I’ve ever been part of a road trip quite like that. I don’t think I saw as many [comebacks] as we did in our previous series against Washington. You don’t see those games very often, but really cool. And then to be able to come here and have some one-run wins. Those are the things that it’s going to take as we keep moving forward through the season.”
Ideally, the Phillies will address a few areas before the Aug. 3 trade deadline. But they can also tighten up their performance in others.
Just ask their manager.
“There’s going to be times where the bullpen’s carrying us, and the starters,” Mattingly said. “There’s going to be times where we score some runs. Hopefully, there’s going to be times we’re catching the ball and making plays.”
And there’s going to be times when the Phillies jump on Schwarber’s back.
Everyone knows he can carry them.
“I don’t know if I’ve seen anybody quite like him,” Mattingly said. “He’s a little different than guys I’ve played with. It’s a different time with more strikeouts, damage, walks. But he’s amazing in what he does, and it’s obviously good to see.”
Schwarber is on pace for 59 homers, which would not only break Ryan Howard’s single-season franchise mark of 58 but also leave Schwarber one homer shy of 400 at the end of the season. It’s a race to 400 between him and Bryce Harper, who has 382 career homers.
Kyle Schwarber celebrates as he runs the the bases after hitting a two-run home run on Sunday.
“I think it’d be cool, just knowing that it’s going to happen one day, right?” Schwarber said. “To see someone of [Harper’s] caliber be able to reach 400 will be really cool. Whenever that day comes for me, it’ll be another cool milestone.”
In the meantime, he can keep making the Phillies’ issues vanish with one swing.
“I’m just trying to soak it all in and learn,” Marsh said. “Because years down the road from now, it’s going to be one of those where, God willing, I’ll get to tell my family, ‘I got to watch this.’ It’s pretty special.”
As the Phillies finished a series against the Mets here Sunday, Andrew Painter faced New York’s JV club in his first start for triple-A Lehigh Valley. The games were played only 109 miles apart along Interstate 78, and the Phillies hope Painter’s road back to the majors isn’t much longer.
That remains to be seen. But for starters, Painter got better results, especially with his fastball, in allowing one run in four innings against Syracuse.
When the Phillies demoted Painter 10 days earlier, the instructions were clear. They wanted him to focus on his fastball, which got hit hard in his first 14 major-league appearances. Opponents batted .404 and slugged .660 against it.
Painter threw 44 four-seam fastballs out of 80 pitches for Lehigh Valley, while sprinkling in 11 sliders, seven sinkers, six curveballs, six sweeping sliders, and five splitters. The hits came off his slider and sinker.
The Phillies haven’t outlined a timetable for Painter to return. It’s intentional. But with scant depth in the rotation, they are counting on the 23-year-old to get back.
But interim manager Don Mattingly also isn’t waiting breathlessly for daily updates on Painter’s progress.
“From my standpoint, he’s just down there working and getting himself [right],” Mattingly said. “It’s not like a rehab-type situation where you think, ‘Oh, he’s going to get one start and he’s coming back.’ I think it’s more like, ‘Hey, let’s get this guy on the right track and don’t put a timetable on it.’
“It’s really important moving forward, to the organization, that he becomes what he’s capable of. So, I just look at it more like he’s down there working, and then we’ll hear periodically how it’s going.”
Phillies rookie outfielder Gabriel Rincones Jr. has struggled since getting called up from triple A.
Rincones sits
As the Phillies anticipated, the Mets brought in righties Tobias Myers and Kodai Senga behind lefty opener Cionel Pérez to cover the bulk of the innings Sunday.
But Gabriel Rincones Jr. wasn’t in the lineup.
Rincones, a left-handed hitter who plays against most righties, was in a 3-for-30 skid with seven strikeouts since hitting his first career homer June 15 in his first at-bat at Citizens Bank Park. Overall, he was 4-for-34 with nine strikeouts.
“I felt like Rinco needed a day to think about it just a little bit,” Mattingly said. “Sometimes I feel like, with young guys, you kind of pay attention to when the at-bats aren’t going good. What are they [like]? How are they dealing with that? So, [it’s] a day just to watch a game.”
Besides, righty-hitting Derek Hill was on an 8-for-19, two-homer roll. Hill started in right field in Rincones’ place.
The Phillies are scheduled to face four righty starters this week against the Pirates. It will be interesting to see how many games Rincones starts.
“In general, I’d just like him to stay aggressive and not really get where he’s thinking too much about the at-bats just one to the other,” Mattingly said. “I’d say it’s been spotty as far as feeling like he’s making quality contact a lot. It’s another thing that we’ll keep an eye on.”
Phillies reliever Brad Keller has been on the injured list since June 16 with right forearm tendinitis.
Extra bases
Reliever Brad Keller, sidelined since June 16 with right forearm tendintis, threw from the slope of a mound and is expected to progress to a bullpen session this week. After that, Mattingly said Keller may face hitters, then make a minor-league appearance before rejoining the Phillies’ bullpen. … Knicks playoff star OG Anunoby threw the ceremonial first pitch to former Mets shortstop José Reyes. … The Phillies will return home at 6:40 p.m. Monday to begin a four-game series with the Pirates. Aaron Nola (3-4, 5.58 ERA) is slated to start against Pittsburgh righty Braxton Ashcraft (7-3, 3.07).
Hey, it happens. Near the end of a weeklong road trip in which they’ve scored 34 runs in six games, after a 44-run outburst on a six-game homestand, the bats were bound to cool.
But if Harper’s glove was as quick in the sixth inning as his bat in the third, it may not have mattered. Instead, Francisco Lindor’s scorched liner went under Harper’s mitt as he dove to his left, the start of a Mets’ rally that doomed the Phillies to a 6-2 loss.
“I felt like he top-spun it and I thought it was going to bounce up, and it just got under my glove,” Harper said after the Phillies’ four-game winning streak ended. “I was pretty upset about that play. Obviously a play I think I should have made, but it didn’t happen.”
It wasn’t the only costly play, though. Two batters before Lindor’s game-tying two-run triple, Juan Soto singled on a fly ball that fell in front of right fielder Gabriel Rincones Jr.
Could Rincones have been more aggressive?
“I couldn’t really tell,” interim manager Don Mattingly said. “They’ll have the report out tomorrow, just [catch] probabilities and things like that. I haven’t really looked at it yet.”
Phillies lefty reliever Tim Mayza (left) opened Saturday’s game before Alan Rangel entered in the second inning.
In any case, the two plays in the Mets’ four-run sixth inning amplified one Phillies weakness that hasn’t gotten better since Mattingly took over on April 28.
While the rotation is among the best in baseball, the bullpen has largely held up, and the offense is more productive despite lacking a big right-handed bat, the Phillies remain the second-worst defensive team in the sport, according to both defensive runs saved (minus-29) and outs above average (minus-20).
And it isn’t a nitpick. In close, low-scoring games — the kind that get played in October — even the slightest defensive shortcomings loom large.
For as well as the Phillies have played under Mattingly, he knows it’s an area they need to button up.
“There’s times I like it, and there’s times that I don’t feel as good about it,” Mattingly said of the overall team defense. “It’s kind of day-to-day. Some of the plays, you don’t know why. Like, I see certain plays that you feel like you can get to.
“In general, it’s been OK.”
Hardly a ringing endorsement.
Then there was another out on the bases by Harper. With the Phillies leading 2-0, he led off with a bloop between diving center fielder A.J. Ewing and Lindor. When Lindor fell down, Harper tried to reach second, but the shortstop recovered to throw him out.
“I didn’t think Lindor was going to go get it, and he did,” Harper said. “Not one that I’m trying to go to second on aggressively.”
Bryce Harper (3) celebrates after his two-run home run with teammate Brandon Marsh in the third inning.
Mattingly liked the aggressiveness. And given the lack of hits from everyone else in the lineup (Harper had two of the Phillies’ five), it’s hardly a guarantee Harper would have scored.
Alan Rangel, meanwhile, continued to impress Mattingly in what amounts to an ongoing audition for the No. 5 starter spot. Once again, the 28-year-old righty came in after lefty opener Tim Mayza — after a 70-minute rain delay at the outset — and held the Mets to one infield hit before the sixth inning.
“I felt great today,” Rangel said through a team interpreter. “I felt great with commanding the strike zone, and I just felt great overall with my slider, my curveball. My changeup was good.”
Rangel has a higher-than-usual release point and three varieties of offspeed pitches (changeup, slider, and curveball). Harper said the changeup reminds him of reliever Tyler Clippard, his teammate with the Nationals.
“Just a really good pitch,” Harper said. “I think that just keeps guys off balance. The changeup is kind of a hidden gem in the game nowadays. Not many people throw it, but when they do, and they can throw it really well, you’re going to have success.”
After Lindor’s triple, Rangel walked Jared Young and was lifted for Jonathan Bowlan, who walked Mark Vientos to load the bases and gave up Ewing’s two-run single through a drawn-in infield.
But while the sixth inning spoiled Rangel’s outing, the Phillies are content to keep using him in the fifth-starter spot.
“I’d say right now we’re committed to him being in there,” Mattingly said. “He’s thrown the ball good both times, kept us in the game. We weren’t really putting runs on the board to give a little bit of a cushion where one inning doesn’t hurt you. But in general, Al’s been good.”
Unlike, say, the defense.
“I’d like to see us always continue to tighten everything up,” Mattingly said. “We can get better where, the outs we’re supposed to get, we want to get and not give those guys extra chances.”
NEW YORK — Jacob Misiorowski has The Heater (105.5 mph!), and Cristopher Sánchez had The Streak (50⅔ scoreless innings!), and Shohei Ohtani is, well, Shohei Ohtani!
But at the midpoint of the schedule, there’s another nominee for the best pitching story in baseball: The Comeback, by Zack Wheeler.
Wheeler gave up one run in seven innings here Friday night against the Mets. And although he got a major assist from center fielder Derek Hill, it still marked the eighth time in his last nine starts that he allowed less than three runs.
It’s almost like the 36-year-old righty didn’t have a rib removed nine months ago to relieve a compressed vein near his collarbone.
“Yeah,” interim manager Don Mattingly said, “it’s been pretty remarkable.”
Never mind that Wheeler had the less threatening form of thoracic outlet syndrome. It’s a condition that has derailed many pitching careers. Yet here he is, with a 2.03 ERA that ranks fifth among 100 pitchers with at least 70 innings entering play Saturday.
If you didn’t know what Wheeler went through last summer, beginning with the discovery of a blood clot near his right shoulder after an Aug. 15 start, well, you wouldn’t know.
Zack Wheeler’s 2.03 ERA ranked fifth among 100 pitchers with at least 70 innings.
His average fastball velocity is down a tick to 95.3 mph, but he can still dial up 97. (He scraped 97.7 mph Friday night against Mets star Juan Soto.) And he still changes speeds with a sweeper, splitter, and curveball.
Wheeler won’t admit that he’s surprised by any of this. Then again, he couldn’t allow himself to expect anything less.
“I mean, you almost have to, right?” he said. “You’ve got to have that mindset when you get hurt and you’re going to have surgery. You just build out your plan in your head — what it’s going to be like, and where you want to be at the end — and you kind of just tick those boxes off as you go.
“You’re always going to have your ups and downs. That’s going to happen with the human body. It doesn’t always go your way. But for the most part it went pretty smooth, and, yeah, I always envisioned myself coming back and hitting the ground running.”
Even as he was coming back from surgery and regaining strength after losing “a good bit” of weight, Wheeler said he set the same three goals: “win the Cy Young, win the World Series, and make the All-Star Game.” He could check off the latter next Saturday when the All-Star rosters are announced.
Wheeler was named to the National League team last year and in 2023 but didn’t attend the game either time. This year, with Philadelphia hosting the game, he won’t have to travel. But if the Phillies stay on rotation, he would start the final game before the break, leaving him unavailable to pitch in the All-Star Game.
In any case, Wheeler has never had a lower ERA through his first 12 starts of a season. Even in his runner-up Cy Young finishes in 2021 and 2024, his ERA through 12 starts was 2.51 and 2.32, respectively.
Zack Wheeler is making a strong case to be an All-Star for the third time in the last four years.
And yet, ever the perfectionist, Wheeler insists his command isn’t as sharp as it can be.
“Something’s still a tick off, and I hate saying that just because it was a good game,” Wheeler said. “But I’m so used to throwing eight or nine pitches out of 10 where I exactly want it. So, when that’s not happening, I feel like it’s just not there all the way.
“But I know things are going well. I’m feeling strong, so I’ll take that for sure.”
One day after grounding into three double plays, as part of a 1-for-19 funk, third baseman Alec Bohm wasn’t in the lineup Saturday against Mets righty Christian Scott.
“He just looked tired last night,” Mattingly said of Bohm. “I thought he was dragging a little bit. It’s just a day.”
Edmundo Sosa started in Bohm’s place.
Extra bases
Reliever Brad Keller (right forearm inflammation) has progressed to throwing a bullpen session within the next few days, Mattingly said. … Andrew Painter is slated to start Sunday for the first time since getting demoted to triple A on June 17. … Jesús Luzardo (6-4, 4.39 ERA) will start the series finale at 1:40 p.m. Sunday and Mets lefty opener Cionel Pérez (3-3, 4.99).
Last summer, at a win-now moment in their competitive cycle, the Phillies addressed two holes in the roster with one-stop shopping at the trade deadline.
Sort of.
Priority No. 1 felt familiar. Despite trading for a reliever at other recent deadlines, the Phillies’ playoff runs in 2023 and ’24 were torpedoed by the bullpen. So, they went in search of a lockdown late-inning anchor.
But they had another obvious shortcoming: a righty-hitting outfielder to platoon in left field or, better yet, stop the revolving door in center.
For weeks, Dave Dombrowski and his front office made calls and put out feelers. But gridlock in the wild-card standings — think of the Schuylkill Expressway at rush hour — led to market fluidity until a few days before the July 31 deadline.
After fence-sitting amid ownership uncertainty, the Twins finally decided to break up their roster. On the eve of the deadline, the Phillies landed Jhoan Duran for two top-100 prospects (pitcher Mick Abel and teenage catcher Eduardo Tait), a steep price for a closer, albeit a star who came with two full seasons of club control.
Harrison Bader’s name came up in the Duran talks, a source with knowledge of the conversations said, but the Twins kept the center fielder out of the deal as they orchestrated an everything-must-go bonanza in which they wound up unloading 11 major league players. The next day, Bader went to the Phillies for two minor leaguers.
Two trades. One-stop shopping.
Jhoan Duran has locked down the ninth inning for the Phillies since he was acquired at the trade deadline last year.
Eleven months later — still in win-now mode, and back on a 90-win pace at the mathematical midpoint of the season after a 9-19 start that cost manager Rob Thomson his job — the Phillies again have multiple needs. The top priority is up for debate, even among some in the organization, but in some order:
Right-handed hitter
Back-end starting pitcher
Late-inning bridge to Duran
And with the trade deadline a little more than five weeks away — jot it down: Aug. 3, 6 p.m. — it’s worth wondering if they can one-stop shop once again.
Before we explore a few potential trade partners, a few caveats:
1. Across the sport, right-handed hitters had a .703 OPS through Thursday, which would be the third-lowest mark since 1991. Righty-hitting outfielders had a .709 OPS, tied for the second-lowest in the last 70 years. And two of the best, Mike Trout and Byron Buxton, have no-trade clauses and no interest in waiving them.
2. That said, the easiest place for the Phillies to add a right-handed bat is in the outfield … unless they move Bryce Harper back to right field and open first base (or third, if they shift Alec Bohm to first). Harper recently reiterated that he’d be open to it “for the right player.”
Dombrowski, on the other hand …
“We haven’t talked to him about it, and I really don’t contemplate it because I really like the way he goes about his business at first base,” he said recently. “I look at him as being our first baseman.”
The Phillies plan to keep Bryce Harper at first base, president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski reiterated recently.
3. Over the last few years, the Phillies traded Abel, Tait, and fellow prospects Hendry Mendez, Starlyn Caba, William Bergolla Jr., George Klassen, Sam Aldegheri, Hao-Yu Lee, Mickey Moniak, Ben Brown, Logan O’Hoppe, and TJ Rumfield, among others. The teams hasn’t been burned, but it has drained the farm system.
Andrew Painter (starting Sunday in triple A), Justin Crawford (graduated to the majors), and Aidan Miller (injured) were largely untouchable in previous talks. If that’s still the case, the best chips in a top-heavy system are right-hander Gage Wood, infielder Aroon Escobar, outfielder Dante Nori, and 17-year-old outfielder Francisco Renteria, off to a flying start in the Dominican Summer League.
It begs the question of whether the Phillies have the prospect capital to fill each of their needs.
“We feel good where our system’s at,” general manager Preston Mattingly said recently on Phillies Extra, The Inquirer’s baseball podcast. “We’re not concerned about a lack of assets in the minor leagues. A lot of times you see that top-100 [prospects] list. That’s not necessarily what teams internally talk about, and those are not the players they ask about.”
4. Remember that Schuylkill-style traffic jam in the standings last July? Well, entering the weekend, 24 teams were in a playoff spot or no more than five games out. Only four American League teams — four! — were even above .500.
Given the dearth of obvious sellers, one league source predicted that contenders may have to trade with each other. Think of the 2024 deadline, when the Phillies got outfielder Austin Hays in a buyer-to-buyer swap with the Orioles.
5. Oh, and did we mention there’s a work stoppage looming in December? The owners and players are at odds over, well, everything. And regardless of whether the owners get their salary cap, the sport’s economic system will change in ways that front offices can’t possibly anticipate as they maneuver at the deadline.
Got all that? Amid that backdrop, here’s a look at three teams that might match up with the Phillies on one or more of their needs.
Despite not hitting for as much power as usual, Orioles outfielder Taylor Ward is reaching base at a .389 clip entering the weekend.
Baltimore Orioles
Here’s all you need to know about the state of play in the AL: The Orioles haven’t been over .500 since April 14, but were only 1½ games out of a wild-card spot entering the weekend.
No wonder a white flag isn’t flying over Camden Yards.
The next two weeks may determine which trade-deadline lane the Orioles choose. They play 12 of 15 games before the All-Star break at home, where they were 22-19 with a plus-13 run differential going into the weekend.
And if they’re still undecided on a path as the deadline approaches, the Phillies will visit Baltimore on July 31.
Ward, 32, was popular in trade rumors for years with the Angels before finally getting dealt to the Orioles in the offseason. He entered the weekend with only five homers after averaging 24 in the last four seasons, but appears to have traded power for on-base ability, reaching at a .389 clip.
(Phillies right-handed hitters had combined for a .269 on-base percentage, last in the majors.)
Ward would fit atop the order ahead of Kyle Schwarber and Harper, enabling interim manager Don Mattingly to finally slide Trea Turner down. Or the Phillies could put Ward in the cleanup spot behind Harper and work on restoring his fly-ball and barrel rates to his career levels.
As a free agent after the season, Ward probably won’t come at a high acquisition cost. But the Orioles would get a better return if they package him with rental starter Trevor Rogers or controllable relievers Yennier Cano or Rico Garcia.
Potential trade: Ward and Cano for Nori and right-hander Ramon Marquez.
Giants lefty Robbie Ray has allowed one earned run or fewer in four of his last five starts.
San Francisco Giants
Two years ago, the Phillies raced to a big lead en route to an NL East title. But they went 33-33 after the All-Star break and lost their momentum in part because they lacked a competent No. 5 starter.
Dombrowski regretted not getting one at the deadline.
“I’ll take the responsibility,” he said after a divisional-round knockout. “When you look at the fifth spot that we had, that was not a good spot at all for us the last two months of the season.”
Maybe it will inform how Dombrowski acts now, with Painter back in triple A and a hole at the back of the rotation. But teams don’t use five starters in the postseason. So, unless the Phillies can upgrade from Aaron Nola, or even Jesús Luzardo, they won’t want to give up an asset.
In that case, the rental market is an option. And the Giants’ Robbie Ray is a classic rental. The 34-year-old lefty will be a free agent after the season. He has pitched well lately, too, allowing one earned run or fewer in four of his last five starts.
In lieu of what the Giants really want to do — offload unwieldy long-term contracts for Matt Chapman, Willy Adames, and Rafael Devers — they almost certainly will move Ray.
If the Phillies take on the $12.5 million that Ray is owed through the end of the season, the return would be minimal. But the Giants can get a better prospect by including, say, controllable outfielder Heliot Ramos, who is nearing a return from a quadriceps strain.
Potential trade: Ray and Ramos for outfielder Gabriel Rincones Jr. and righty Jean Cabrera.
Aroldis Chapman has a 1.41 and 46 saves for the Red Sox over the last two seasons.
Boston Red Sox
When the Red Sox finally accept reality and go into sell mode, they will have players who are in demand.
Atop the list: fire-breathing closer Aroldis Chapman.
Even at age 38, Chapman is lighting up radar guns and overpowering hitters. Entering the weekend, these were his numbers in two years with the Red Sox: 1.39 ERA, 47-for-50 in save chances, 114 strikeouts, 25 walks in 84 innings. His fastball still averages 97.4 mph.
Chapman has 382 career saves, 10th on the all-time list. With the Phillies, he would supplant José Alvarado as the high-leverage lefty and set up for Duran. He has filled a setup role before, notably in 2023 for the World Series-winning Rangers.
Two years ago, the Phillies acquired walk-year closer Carlos Estévez from the Angels for two pitching prospects (Klassen and Aldegheri). The Sox will likely seek a similar haul for Chapman, a free agent at season’s end.
They will have a harder time maximizing the value for outfielder Jarren Duran. Although he’s under team control through 2028, the 29-year-old’s production has dropped off since his All-Star season in 2024.
Duran is a left-handed hitter, not an ideal fit for the Phillies. But given the lack of righty-hitting outfield options, he’s worth considering as a buy-low candidate.
Potential trade: Chapman and Duran for Escobar, Marquez, and righty Matthew Fisher.
