Phillies slaughter Marlins, Wheeler bolsters Cy Young resume originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
MIAMI — Rob Thomson doesn’t have a vote for the National League Cy Young Award. That’s a privilege extended only to working members of the Baseball Writers Association of America. Which is probably best for the integrity of the process because the Phillies manager is hardly a neutral observer.
“There’s been a bunch of pitchers who have had good years,” he said Friday at loanDepot Park. “But Zack Wheeler, to me — and I’m obviously biased — has been so consistent over the years I’ve been here. His ability to come through in big games. Not just playoff games. When we’ve needed a win, or we needed to get a lot of innings to help the bullpen out, he’s done it. He’s done it every time.”
Not every time, maybe, but consistently enough that the conventional wisdom at the moment is that there are two top contenders for that particular piece of hardware, neck-and-neck, coming around the final turn and into the home stretch: Wheeler and Atlanta‘s Chris Sale.
Sale might hold a razor-thin edge at the moment but there are three weeks and change left in the season and anything can still happen.
Wheeler continued to make his case Friday night in the Phillies’ 16-2 win over the Marlins. He allowed just two soft hits in six innings, striking out seven with one walk.
“He looked like he was on cruise control out there,” said shortstop Trea Turner.
The only run Wheeler allowed came in the fourth on an infield hit by Connor Norby, a walk to Jake Burger and a two-out grounder up the middle by Otto Lopez that caromed off second base and rolled into left for one of the stranger doubles you’ll ever see.
“He could have gone more,” Thomson said. “But I thought it was kind of silly to run him out for a seventh inning with that big of a lead.”
Wheeler’s now 14-6 with a 2.59 ERA in 28 starts. His WHIP is 0.96 and opponents are hitting .193 against him. He’s pitched 173⅔ innings, striking out 190.
Sale, whose next scheduled turn is against the Blue Jays on Sunday, is 16-3, 2.46 in 26 starts. His WHIP is 1.01 with a .218 opponent’s batting average. He’s struck out 206 in 160⅔ innings.
“It (winning a Cy Young) would mean a lot,” said Wheeler, who was edged out for the honor by Corbin Burns in 2021. “There’s some good competition that I’m going up against. At the same time, I’m just going out there trying to put up zeroes and hope for the best. And that’s all I can do. So I’m just…