Lineup lifeless, Wheeler off his game to end Phillies' rough road trip

Lineup lifeless, Wheeler off his game to end Phillies' rough road trip originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

ST. LOUIS — The Phillies had their ace on the mound in search of a series win that would have sent them back home with a .500 road trip, but the lineup was lifeless again and Zack Wheeler’s command was off in the middle innings of a 7-0 loss.

Four of the first 11 Phillies who came to the plate reached base Sunday afternoon against left-hander Matthew Liberatore. Bryce Harper’s third-inning single was their final baserunner of the game, though, with 20 in a row retired to end it.

The Phillies scored just six runs in the final four games of their road trip to Atlanta and St. Louis. They lost both series, going 2-4. They’ve been shut out twice in their last three games and were held without an extra-base hit both times. Series in Atlanta are always tough no matter how the Braves are playing, but the Phillies are much better than the Cardinals team that beat them two out of three this weekend, especially offensively.

“The guy threw the ball well but as an offense, we have to be better,” Harper said. “We had some opportunities to hit some pitches over the zone and it just didn’t happen.

“We’ve got to be better, we’ll find our way. Our eyeballs have been good lately but you’ve got to also hit with guys on base and in scoring position.”

Kyle Schwarber has been hot through much of these first 2½ weeks, Edmundo Sosa has had big moments and Harper has reached base at a near-.400 clip, but the Phillies haven’t yet had a stretch where several hitters are firing at the same time. Trea Turner is hitting .240 with a .661 OPS; J.T. Realmuto’s at .238 and .629.

A few others are ice cold, most notably Brandon Marsh and Alec Bohm, who are 0-for-26 and 5-for-45 since the Phillies left D.C. on March 30.

“It’s tough to struggle but obviously, it’s the big leagues so you’ve got to pull out of it and understand you’re gonna go through ups and downs in the season,” Harper said. “But just try to stay as even-keeled as you can and always remember it’s not about the name on the back, it’s about the one on the front. We’re trying to win series and no matter what you’re doing, you’ve got to keep rolling. I don’t want to be hitting .250 right now. Just want to win every day. You’ve got to have that mindset and come in and try to win ballgames.”

It’s only mid-April and the Phillies’ offense is much better than this. It’s hard to ignore, though, given the way the last two Octobers ended, with their streaky lineup struggling top to bottom. Every shutout, every down offensive stretch is a reminder of the offense’s floor, of how quickly hot can turn to cold.

It was a long week for the Phillies. They played through a 2-hour, 45-minute rain delay on Thursday night in Atlanta and got to the team hotel around 4 a.m. Friday. They were shut out Friday night, they controlled Saturday’s win from start to finish and were shut out again Sunday.

“Oof,” manager Rob Thomson said. “We had a chance in the third inning there but then we didn’t swing it after that. We’ve got to get home, get some energy, get this team starting to hit this ball in the middle of the diamond again and we’ll be all right.

“There’s some little things we didn’t do well today. We didn’t execute a bunt play (on defense). It looked like some of the outfielders were having a little trouble seeing the ball off the bat. There’s some things we need to clean it up and get back to playing our game.”

Without any run support, it wouldn’t have mattered if Wheeler pitched a gem, but he’s been uncharacteristically off these last two starts. His velocity was down in Atlanta and back up in St. Louis, but both times the command was below his standard. Willson Contreras started the scoring with a two-run homer in the fourth inning on a middle-in fastball Wheeler intended to throw outside. He allowed three doubles in a two-run sixth inning, missing over the middle on two of them.

“Command just wasn’t really there today and hasn’t been for a couple of games now,” Wheeler said. “Just gotta dig into that a little bit and figure out what’s going. I don’t think it’s anything crazy but velo’s down and the command’s off a little bit so got to fix that.”

Wheeler did hit 97 mph on Sunday and he averaged 95.4 mph with his four-seamer, the same velocity as last season. The bigger issue seems to be command. Some of his fastballs have been backing up over the plate and he wants to figure out why.

“Maybe, yeah,” he said when asked if he’s experienced this in consecutive starts at any point the last few years, “but the velo was there and that also helps get some swings-and-misses and maybe not so many barrels. You can get away with a little bit more when you have more velo. Just kinda the combo of that hurt me a little bit today.”

Even with Wheeler carrying a 4.07 ERA through four starts, the Phillies’ rotation has still been their main strength 15 games in. Jesus Luzardo has been effective all three times. Cristopher Sanchez induced five double plays on Saturday and has a 3.12 ERA. Taijuan Walker hasn’t allowed a run in his first two starts. Sunday’s game was the first one they’ve been truly out of thus far.

“I think at the beginning of the season we all knew the starting pitching was going to be a strength for us,” Harper said. “Obviously, our offense needs to be a strength too because if you don’t score runs, you’re not gonna win games.”

Thomson didn’t think fatigue played a role in Friday’s loss after the marathon rain delay and extra innings the night before, but he acknowledged it after the series finale.

“I felt it today,” he said. “I didn’t feel it the first day or the second day but I felt it a little bit today, they were kinda dragging a little bit. We’ve got to get home, get a good night’s sleep and get back after it tomorrow.”