Yankees make Wheeler work, Phillies get crushed in another series opener

Final Score: Yankees 14, Phillies 4

The Phillies are in the midst of a skid. They have dropped four straight series, including four straight series openers after winning 10 of their last 12 dating back to the end of May heading into today. They needed a strong outing from Zack Wheeler against the Yankees to get back to getting ahead of the opponent.

Instead, Wheeler allowed three solo home runs in the first two innings and four runs in a 37-pitch fifth inning in what was a grind of a start. The Phillies ace struggled to locate his breaking pitches and as a result, the Yankees were aggressive against the fastball in the strike zone. He allowed seven earned runs over seven hits, raising his ERA from 2.55 to 2.94.

Wheeler recorded the first out in the fifth, but allowed a pair of singles to the No. 8 and 9 hitters Ben Rice and Anthony Volpe. He had leadoff hitter Alex Verdugo in an 0-2 count, but threw four of the next five pitches out of the strike zone to load the bases for Soto.

Soto, who entered the at-bat 11-for-45 lifetime with three extra-base hits against Wheeler, worked out an eight-pitch at-bat and drilled a two-run double to expand the Yankees’ lead to 5-2. Wheeler was able to retire Aaron Judge on strikes, but the next batter Austin Wells just missed a three-run home run and hit a 1-2 curveball off the right center field wall for a two-run triple to make it 7-2.

Wheeler’s two worst starts of the season have come against the top two clubs in the Al East. He allowed four home runs against the Orioles on Father’s Day. Overall, Wheeler has allowed 43 earned runs this season. Twenty-one of them have come in his three worst outings of the year: June 16 vs. the Orioles (eight), tonight vs. the Yankees (seven) and May 12 vs. the Marins (six).

It was a miserable night for Phillies fans in attendance at Citizens Bank Park. Of the 44,000 fans in attendance at least half were Yankees fans. MVP chants filled the stadium as Judge was up to bat in the eighth inning, looking for his third home run.

The Phillies are still 65-41 and hold the best record in the sport, but they haven’t played up to their record since early June.

Highlights

• Judge made the many Yankees fans in attendance happy with a solo home run to left field to put New York up 1-0.

• The Yankees homered two more times against Wheeler in the second. Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s bomb to left was his first in a Yankee uniform. Rice’s home run to right made it 3-0.

• Wheeler caught Chisholm off the bag and picked him off for the final out in the top of the third.

• Brandon Marsh crushed an 0-2 fastball from Gil into the second deck to make it 3-2.

• Judge hit another tank, this one off of Yunior Marte. No. 99 now has 99 RBIs and July isn’t even over yet.

• Garrett Stubbs provided some comic relief with an appearance on the mound in the ninth. He allowed the sixth Yankees home run of the night, a two-run home run to Chisholm Jr.

Ticket IQ Next Game

• Tuesday, July 30 vs. New York Yankees at Citizens Bank Park
• 6:45 p.m. ET
• NBC Sports Philadelphia, TBS (out-of-market only)
• 94 WIP

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