Zack Wheeler continues Phillies' pitching gems with six scoreless innings in 3-0 win vs. Guardians

Zack Wheeler turned and watched a fly ball land in left fielder Brandon Marsh's glove, then turned again and walked off the field.

Cool. Calm. Emotionless.

Just like always.

How does a Phillies pitcher follow Cristopher Sánchez‘s eight scoreless innings? If it's Wheeler, he sits through a two-hour rain delay, then blanks the Guardians for six innings Saturday.

And unlike Sánchez, Wheeler actually won, 3-0, in front of 36,125 water-logged paying customers to snap a three-game skid and push the Phillies' record back to .500 at 26-26.

It's Memorial Day weekend, so it's appropriate to begin peeking at the standings. The Phillies are 9½ games out of first place but only three out in the wild-card chase. And the oddsmakers like their chances. Fangraphs, for one, has them at 56.4% to make the playoffs.

The formula: Sánchez, Wheeler, and pray for rain - not always in that order.

Bryson Stott's two-out, two-run single up the middle in the fourth inning broke a scoreless stalemate and gave the Phillies their first runs in 15 innings going back to Wednesday against the Reds.

The Phillies tacked on a run in the sixth when Guardians reliever Matt Festa somehow walked slumping Adolis García (1-for-37 with 20 strikeouts) with the bases loaded.

And the bullpen recorded the last nine outs, with Orion Kerkering, Brad Keller, and Jhoan Duran passing the baton. For Duran, it was redemption from the previous night, when he allowed a ninth-inning homer to Kyle Manzardo in a 1-0 loss that ruined a gem in which Sánchez stretched his scoreless streak to 37⅔ innings, second-longest in Phillies history, and lowered his ERA to 1.62.

But as with most Sánchez masterpieces, dominance from Wheeler tends to follow. So, there was the highest-paid pitcher in the sport earning every cent of his $42 million salary by mowing down the Guardians in the rain to drop his ERA to 1.67.

Wheeler sidestepped a one-out double by old friend Rhys Hoskins in the second inning, a one-out walk in the third, and Chase DeLauter's leadoff double in the fourth. The Guardians put up some long at-bats and made him throw 99 pitches through six innings.

Otherwise, Wheeler was in complete command.

As usual.

Wheeler leaned on his fastball, which lacked the sizzle from his previous start last weekend in Pittsburgh against Paul Skenes. Blame the weather. It was 53 degrees and slick when the game finally started in a downpour.

But Wheeler's splitter was his sharpest secondary pitch. J.T. Realmuto recognized it early and called for it often. Wheeler got six of his 15 swings and misses with the splitter.

And when Wheeler needed a strikeout, the heater was there. In particular, he fanned Manzardo and Hoskins on fastballs in the fourth inning to keep the game scoreless.

It still boggles the mind that Wheeler is doing any of this. A week shy of his 36th birthday, not even eight months removed from surgery to treat thoracic outlet syndrome - a procedure that involved the removal of his first rib - he's dominating as much as ever.

Wheeler returned to the Phillies' rotation on April 25, earlier than anyone expected - other than him, that is. And he's right back to being a worthy follow-up act to Sánchez every time through the rotation.

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This story was originally published May 23, 2026 at 9:34 PM.