This story was originally published by Dead Spin
Zack Wheeler pitched eight scoreless innings and was backed by four home runs as the Philadelphia Phillies snapped a six-game skid with a 6-0 interleague victory against the host Seattle Mariners on Sunday afternoon.
Bryce Harper, mired in one of the worst slumps of his career, went 3-for-4 with a homer and Kyle Schwarber, Bryson Stott and Alec Bohm also went deep for the National League East-leading Phillies, who won for just the fourth time in 15 games since the All-Star break.
The matchup of All-Star right-handers didn’t disappoint, as Wheeler dueled with Seattle’s Logan Gilbert.
Wheeler (11-5) allowed two hits, walked one and struck out nine. The only hits he gave up were a two-out double into the right field corner by Cal Raleigh in the first inning and a two-out infield single by Victor Robles in the third. The latter glanced off the bag at third base, preventing Bohm from making a play.
Gilbert (6-8) gave up one run on four hits in six innings. He didn’t walk a batter and fanned seven. It was Gilbert’s 18th quality start of the season, tied with Baltimore’s Corbin Burnes for the most in the majors.
Gilbert’s only mistake came to the game’s first batter, Schwarber. After falling behind 2-0 in the count, Gilbert tried to sneak a four-seam fastball past Schwarber, who hit a 428-foot blast off the windows of the Hit It Here Cafe on the second deck in right field.
Philadelphia’s Nick Castellanos had an epic 15-pitch at-bat against Gilbert with two outs in the second inning, fouling off nine two-strike pitches, before grounding out to third. It was the most pitches thrown by a Mariner in an at-bat in the pitch-tracking era, which started in 1988.
With the Phillies leading 1-0, Stott led off the eighth with a homer off reliever Yimi Garcia that just cleared the wall in right-center. After a two-out walk, lefty Tayler Saucedo was called upon to face Harper, who snapped an 0-for-24 skid Saturday. Harper hit a two-run shot to right-center, his 25th homer of the season.
Bohm, the next hitter, followed with a homer to left to make it 5-0. Brandon Marsh singled to center, stole second and scored on J.T. Realmuto’s single off Trent Thornton to cap the five-run inning.
The Mariners lost for just the third time in their past nine games but maintained their one-game lead over Houston in the American League West.
–Field Level Media
