Well, that is not the way any of us saw games 3 and 4 going after the Phillies jumped out to a 2-0 lead. First, the bats go cold in game 3. Then in game 4, the bullpen blew a 5-2 lead. Now the series is tied up. The good news is 2 of the last 3 games will be played at Citizens Bank Park. But all the momentum they had when they got onto a plane is gone. They had the D Backs down, and they let them back on their feet. Luckily Zack Wheeler is taking the mound next, and few pitchers of late have been better than Wheeler in the playoffs.
In 9 playoff starts, he has a 2.63 ERA and a WHIP of 0.70. And we saw him mostly shut this lineup down in game 1. Apart from a Geraldo Perodomo HR, Wheeler was nearly unhittable. And that has been the case for much of this postseason. He shut down the Marlins, mostly contained the Braves, then held the Diamondbacks to 2 runs.
Who the Phillies have available out of the pen may be another question. Alvardo, Hoffman, Kimbrel, and Kerkering all pitched two days in a row, they will not be available. Dominguez, Strahm, and Soto pitched in game 4, but can probably pitch again. Walker and Lorenzen are the only guys who have not pitched, but how much you can trust them is to be determined. It’s possible Ranger Suarez could come in out of the pen. He couldn’t start again until game 7 and was used in a similar situation last postseason.
The best option is Wheeler pitching at least 8 innings, and the Phillies scoring a lot of runs off Zac Gallen, again. But does he have the advantage vs. this lineup?
Here is how Zack Wheeler has pitched against the DBacks hitters in his career:
Corbin Carroll
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.125/.222/.125/.347
1 for 8, 0 HRs, 0 2Bs, 0 3Bs, 0 RBIs, 1 BB, 1 K
Ketel Marte
(Photo by Norm Hall/Getty Images)
.308/.400/.615/1.015
4 for 13, 1 HR, 1 2B, 0 3Bs, 2 RBIs, 2 BBs, 4 Ks
Tommy Pham
(Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)
.357/.500/.571/1.071
5 for 14, 1 HR, 0 2Bs, 0 3Bs, 2 RBIs, 4 BBs, 3 Ks
Christian Walker
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.474/.474/.789/1.263
9 for 19, 1 HR, 3 2Bs, 0 3Bs, 4 RBIs, 0 BBs, 5 Ks
Gabriel Moreno
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.000/.000/.000/.000
0 for 5, 0 HRs, 0 2Bs, 0 3Bs, 0 RBIs, 0 BBs, 0 Ks
Lourdes Gurriel Jr.
(Photo by Norm Hall/Getty Images)
.250/.250/.500/.750
3 for 12, 1 HR, 0 2Bs, 0 3Bs, 1 RBI, 0 BBs, 6 Ks
Alek Thomas
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.000/.000/.000/.000
0 for 4, 0 HRs, 0 2Bs, 0 3Bs, 0 RBIs, 0 BBs, 1 K
Evan Longoria
(Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
.273/.273/.364/.636
3 for 11, 0 HRs, 1 2B, 0 3Bs, 0 RBIs, 0 BBs, 3 Ks
Geraldo Perodomo
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.222/.222/.667/.889
9 for 9, 0 HRs, 1 2B, 0 3B, 2 RBIs, 0 BBs, 3 Ks
Totals
. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
.252/.297/.468/.765
28 for 111, 6 HRs, 6 2Bs, 0 3Bs, 14 RBIs, 7 BBs, 33 Ks
