Wheeler bounces back, Castellanos drives in 5 as Phillies blast D-backs originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
The first pitch Diamondbacks starter Tommy Henry threw Saturday was a fastball, up and in, to Kyle Schwarber.
The second pitch was another fastball, not as up but considerably more in, and nicked the Phillies leadoff hitter. He dropped his bat and trotted to first.
The headlines from an oppressively hot late afternoon at Citizens Bank Park were obvious.
Zack Wheeler bounces back from one of his worst starts ever, holds Arizona to one run on two hits and no walks in seven dominant innings!
Nick Castellanos drives in five runs and Bryce Harper three; Four homers lift Phils to 12-1 romp!
Just below the surface, though, a question lurked. Was Schwarber being hit by a pitch for the first time this year just one of those things that happens from time to time? Or did it have something to do with the fact that Phillies pitchers had nailed three Arizona hitters the night before?
The old school answer is easy. A Phillies batter would have hit by a pitch to send a message that the D-Backs weren’t going to serve as live shooting gallery targets. Then the case would be considered closed. Phillies manager Rob Thomson, who began his professional career almost 40 years ago, swore the thought never crossed his mind.
“Not at all,” he said. “I don’t think they wanted to hit Schwarber leading off the game. I don’t think it was intentional, not do I think (Friday) was intentional.”
Maybe that’s the way the game is played these days. Just one postscript: Wheeler hit Diamondbacks clean-up Christian Walker leading off the fifth. Arizona reliever Scott McGough came right back and drilled Edmundo Sosa in the bottom of the inning, literally knocking him out of the game with a left elbow contusion. X-rays were negative and Sosa is listed day-to-day. So we’ll see what, if anything, happens next.
In the bigger picture, for one game at least, the Phillies displayed the sort of pitching/hitting prowess that was almost a nightly occurrence while they were winning 29 of 35 from April 15 through May 23.
Wheeler has been one of baseball’s most dependable starters since coming to Philadelphia in 2020. Which is why it was such a shock when he was banged around at Baltimore last Sunday, giving up eight earned runs on nine hits, including a career-high four homers, in 4.1 innings.
Even after all these years, he still uses rare poor outings to fire himself up. “For…