The Philadelphia Phillies defeated the Washington Nationals 4-2 on Friday night, continuing their blistering start, thanks to a shutout performance from Zack Wheeler over 7 1/3 innings.
In front of another sold-out crowd of 44,507, the Phillies needed just 2 hours and 15 minutes to climb to 32-14, the best record in baseball.
Even though they were hitless in this series after the third inning, the Phillies prevailed in the opener for the 13th time in the previous 14 series, establishing a positive early tone.
Left fielder Brandon Marsh stated, “Our pitching has been carrying us and they set the tone for us.” “They do the job now; we just need to get them a couple of runs.”
In the eighth inning, Wheeler (5-3) was lifted with one out and was met with a thunderous standing ovation. He won his fifth consecutive decision despite throwing 104 pitches and giving up two runs. Wheeler unexpectedly lost all four games while going 0-3 in his first four starts with the Phillies before regaining his standing as one of the finest pitchers in baseball.
Ranger Suárez, a lefty with an 8-0 record, has occasionally outperformed the right-hander this season, but the Phillies still want no other pitcher to start a key game.
Wheeler pitched his fourth quality start of the season and his 71st with the Phillies the night after the team lost in extra innings with six relievers. He shares the record for the most excellent starts in the major leagues since 2020 with Gerrit Cole of the Yankees. Over that time, Wheeler has had 525 strikeouts in 477 2/3 innings and a 1.62 ERA.
Wheeler remarked, “I just tried to go as deep as I could and also win the game. A lot of guys got used last night.”
Jeff Hoffman earned his third save while working the ninth.
Wheeler and the Phillies never really threatened the overmatched Nationals on a beautiful night for baseball, a rare warm home game that he attributed to an early spike in velocity to 98 mph. The stadium sold out early, in part due to a Bryson Stott bobblehead promotion.
One of just five teams in the National League with a winning record, the homerun-obsessed Phillies didn’t even need to go deep in this one.
Against Jake Irvin, the Nationals starters Alec Bohm and Marsh each had RBI doubles (2-4). A wild pitch allowed Marsh to score, and Kyle Schwarber followed with an RBI groundout. That’s a rather unremarkable way to win a game for a team that has won six of its previous eight games, which is unusual for them.
The Phillies had a 0-2 start to the season and dropped their next two games on April 23 and 24, but they haven’t lost consecutive games since.
Marsh declared, “We’re getting going early.” “You have a good chance if you get some runs early in the game with the staff we have and the bullpen to shut it down.”
Irvin gave up five innings, four runs, and five hits while walking one. He threw at least five innings in his sixth game of the season, waking one or none of the batters.
For the Nationals, Eddie Rosario and Kelbert Ruiz each had doubles with RBI.
Dave Martinez, manager of the Nationals, stated, “It could have been a lot worse.” “We made it close when we calmed down. We must now begin striking. We must start playing longer innings, hitting the ball hard, and putting balls in play offensively.
ROOM FOR TRAINER
Fielder Trey Lipscomb was optioned to Triple-A Rochester, while Nationals first baseman and designated hitter Joey Gallo was activated from the 10-day disabled list.