Not too long ago, the Philadelphia Phillies looked like one of the worst teams in baseball. They had suffered through a 10-game losing streak and were 9-19 when manager Rob Thomson got fired. Since then, they’ve been nearly unstoppable, even by the best pitcher in baseball.
Paul Skenes took the mound for the Pirates on Sunday against the Phillies and succumbed to the buzzsaw that the Phillies have become under new manager Don Mattingly. Skenes didn’t allow a hit until there were two outs in the fourth inning, but then the Phillies started getting to him. They eventually scored five runs on six hits in five innings off the 2025 National League Cy Young winner.
That would be more than enough support for Zack Wheeler. In his fifth start since returning from a thoracic outlet procedure during which a rib was removed, Wheeler was brilliant. He tossed seven scoreless innings, striking out eight against just one walk. He is now 3-0 with a 1.99 ERA, 0.88 WHIP and looks an awful lot like the True Ace he was before going down with to a blood clot late last season.
With the 6-0 win, the Phillies have now gone 15-4 since Mattingly took over. That puts them at 24-23 and back over .500 for the first time since April 7, when they were 6-5. They were 10 games under .500 heading into action on April 28. It took them less than three weeks to climb all the way out of that hole they dug for themselves.
Bryce Harper is doing Bryce Harper things, as he homered for the second straight game Sunday. Kyle Schwarber leads the majors with 20 homers. Brandon Marsh is hitting .329. Cristopher Sánchez is pitching like an ace, giving the Phillies two, alongside Wheeler. Jhoan Duran is locking down the ninth inning. And on and on we could go.
The Phillies are generally a bit old as a team and the roster is pretty top-heavy, but their talent level has shone through during this run to get them back above .500. The playoff fixture from the last several years isn’t quite ready to roll over and die just yet.
