Field Level Media
Apr 23, 2019
Right-hander Zack Wheeler did it all for New York on Tuesday night, striking out 11 over seven scoreless innings and also hitting a home run and driving in three runs as the host Mets cruised past the visiting Philadelphia Phillies 9-0.
The Mets have won the first two games of the three-game series.
Wheeler (2-2) allowed five hits and walked none in his best start of the season. He struck out seven in a row between the second and fourth innings. The scoreless outing lowered Wheeler's ERA from 6.35 to 4.85.
Wheeler saved his most impressive feats for the batter's box, though. The 28-year-old produced the only runs he'd need by snapping a scoreless tie with a two-run double off opposing starter Zach Eflin in the second inning. Wheeler scored on a two-out error by Phillies second baseman Cesar Hernandez.
In the fourth, Wheeler extended the Mets' lead to 4-0 by homering on the first pitch he saw from Eflin.
It was the first career homer for Wheeler and the third already this season by a Mets pitcher. Noah Syndergaard homered against the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday, and Jacob deGrom went deep against the Miami Marlins on April 3.
Wheeler is the first Mets pitcher to strike out 11 and collect a homer and three RBIs in the same game. He is the first pitcher to toss at least seven scoreless innings on a night in which he homered and finished with at least three RBIs since the Chicago Cubs' Carlos Zambrano had a homer and four RBIs on June 5, 2006. In that contest, Zambrano allowed one hit over eight scoreless innings in an 8-0 win over the Houston Astros.
Todd Frazier hit a grand slam in the fifth, and Wilson Ramos added an RBI single in the sixth for the Mets.
J.T. Realmuto and Maikel Franco had two hits each for the Phillies.
Franco ended Wheeler's strikeout streak with a two-out double in the fourth. Hernandez followed with a single, but Franco was thrown out at the plate by left fielder Jeff McNeil. Franco was the only Phillies player to get beyond first base.
Eflin (2-3) allowed four runs (three earned) on four hits and one walk while striking out three over four innings.
--Field Level Media