PHILADELPHIA — Sunday’s news was about as bad as the Phillies’ pitching staff could’ve imagined.
Zack Wheeler was going on the injured list for an indeterminate spell with a blood clot in his throwing shoulder. A medical condition that goes well beyond the baseball of the field, the immediate worry was for the person.
But eventually, after the shock dissipated, there would be a hole to fill every fifth day, and a burden transferred to the four remaining starters from the loss of the rotation’s No. 1 guy. Before even contemplating what it might mean for October, the ultimate judging ground for this club’s season, the Phillies had six-plus weeks of the regular season to navigate, freefalling New York Mets notwithstanding.
The initial response from the other members of the best starting staff in baseball has been nothing shy of sensational.
For the third straight day, a Phillies starter delivered length and resilience on the mound, Jesus Luzardo setting the table for 20 hits and an 11-2 win to cap a sweep of Seattle.
“Obviously the news about Zack was hard for all of us,” Luzardo said. “He’s a key piece for us, a leader, and he’s a father and a husband and a son, so that comes first and foremost. But for us as a rotation, I think that the best thing we could do is just keep going and continuing to prove that we’re a top-of-the-line rotation.”
Ranger Suarez set the tone Monday night, striking out 10 Mariners over 6.2 innings. Both he and Tuesday starter Cristopher Sanchez gave up two earned runs, Sanchez lasting 6.1 innings and matching a career-high with 12 punch outs.
Luzardo did them a run better. He went six innings in overcast conditions, relenting just a solo homer to Julio Rodriguez in the first inning that was well out of the zone but golfed out by the center fielder. (It was, per Statcast, 0.71 feet off the ground, the fourth-lowest pitch to result in a homer since the pitch-tracking era began in 2008.)
Luzardo struck out 12, and the Mariners struck out 17 times while Phillies pitchers issued one walk Wednesday. That’s a total of 34 strikeouts and two walks (both Sanchez’s) in 19 innings from the three starters against a team that came to town 10 games over .500. They’re just the sixth team in the modern era to have three starters with double-digit strikeouts in a three-game set. Sanchez and Luzardo are the second pair of left-handed starters with 12 or more strikeouts in consecutive games since 1901 (joining Clayton Kershaw and Julio Urias of the Dodgers in 2021).
Luzardo was the third straight lefty starter, the upheaval of Wheeler having a start delayed and then Aaron Nola’s return lining up the southpaws. That’s not manager Rob Thomson’s preference. But in this odd series where all three got to face the same team, it worked beautifully.
“I think we all bring in something different to the table,” Luzardo said. “Obviously our stuff is a little bit different. The way we attack guys are a little bit different, the way the stuff plays. But I think three lefties, teams take a certain approach and kind of start getting a feel for it, but we do a good job of kind of mixing and matching and piecing things together.”
The Phillies starting staff is much more than just Wheeler. Phillies starters entered Wednesday having logged 720.1 innings, 22.1 more than any other staff in the league. They lead the league in strikeouts per 9 innings, are third in ERA (3.47) and first in WAR (16.1) by 2.5 wins over anyone else, with a wins above replacement nearly double the league median.
So when Wheeler went down, Thomson counseled his teammates – pitchers and hitters alike – to just do what they’ve been doing.
“We’re all at the point in our careers that we understand who we are, and you can’t go out and do more,” Luzardo said. “When you go out and do more is kind of when we get in trouble. So it’s understanding that we are who we are, and who we are is plenty.”
Complete as the performance against the Mariners was, Thomson wasn’t surprised. This is what guys like Suarez, Sanchez and Luzardo are capable of, whether Wheeler is fronting them or not.
And it’s what he needs them to keep doing the rest of the way.
“I really didn’t learn anything, because I know who they are,” Thomson said. “And they grind. And they’re resilient. And they fight. The Wheels news is awful, and I feel for Wheels and his family. But they’re not going to cancel games on us. So we’ve got to keep playing.”
Contact Matthew De George at mdegeorge@delcotimes.com.
Source: Berkshire mont