Zack Wheeler stood outside the Phillies’ clubhouse late Saturday afternoon and laid it on the line.
“We need to win some ballgames against some of these better teams,” he said. “We’ve got to swing it a little better. We’ve got to pitch better.”
The right-hander had just absorbed his second loss in less than a week to the New York Mets, and now those same Mets, leaders of the National League East and consistent tormentors of these 2022 Phillies, were about to go for the sweep in a doubleheader.
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SIGN UP HERE GAME 1: Zack Wheeler struggles, bats quiet again as Phillies lose
It was Bailey Falter’s job to do what neither Wheeler nor Aaron Nola could do in nine combined outings this season. It was his job to help the Phillies beat the Mets.
The 25-year-old lefty did just that.
Added to the roster as the extra man for Saturday’s double dip, Falter enjoyed the best start of his young big-league career. He pitched six innings of one-run ball to help the Phillies win, 4-1, and salvage a split with the Mets in front of a big and loud crowd of 39,374 at Citizens Bank Park.
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“He pitched really well,” manager Rob Thomson said. “It was exactly what we needed. Anything less, we might have been in trouble.”
Yes, it was imperative that Falter give his club some innings because the bullpen was short-handed for the nightcap. The Phils used three relievers in the opener and closer Seranthony Dominguez was not available in either game due to triceps tightness.
With the win, the Phillies (66-54) snapped a three-game losing streak.
The victory enabled the Phillies to stay at least a game up on San Diego for the second wild-card spot in the National League. It was just the Phillies’ fifth win in 18 games against the Mets this season.
The two teams will close out their season series Sunday afternoon at Citizens Bank Park. The Phillies will be happy to see the Mets’ team bus pull out of town. They’ll be extra happy if they can pull off a win as they see the last of the troublesome Mets this regular season.
The Phils are 5-13 against the Mets and 61-41 against everyone else.
The rest of this homestand includes a parade of “everyone elses”, starting with the Cincinnati Reds, who come to town to begin a four-game series on Monday night. After that, the lowly Pittsburgh Pirates come in for three before the Phillies play three at Arizona. All three of these clubs are well under .500 and the Phils are a combined 8-2 against them.
“At the end of the day, we’ve been playing well,” Wheeler said after the first game. “It has been against lesser teams but those are the games you’re supposed to win, and we have been winning those and you need to win those games to get to where we want to be, and we all know that. We know what type of team we are, and we need to keep pushing.
“We’re still a good team. We know what we’re capable of. We’ve just got to keep our nose down and keep grinding.”
Falter grinded his way through a difficult first inning in which he hit a batter, allowed a single, walked two and threw a wild pitch. He escaped the inning allowing just one run thanks to a defensive gem by right fielder Nick Castellanos. He made a sliding catch on Jeff McNeil’s sinking liner to save two runs and change the course of Falter’s night.
“Huge props to Castellanos for that catch,” Falter said. “It was game-changing, I believe.”
"I was just trying to stop the bleeding in the first inning," Castellanos said. "Falter was fantastic. He came up and did everything the team could ask for."
The Phils quickly tied the game in the bottom of the first inning. Kyle Schwarber doubled and scored on a two-out hit by J.T. Realmuto. The Phils added two runs in the third. They got the first two men on base against lefty David Peterson and Alec Bohm drove them home with a double.
After walking his second batter with two outs in the first inning, Falter retired 10 in a row and handed a two-run lead to the bullpen in the seventh.
“I knew we needed a W, especially after the first game, and I was going to do everything I could to help us get it,” Falter said after the game.
The game was televised nationally and Falter's friends and family back home in California were able to watch.
“My phone is blowing up,” he said. “It’s all good.”
Jose Alvarado and David Robertson finished off the game. Robertson earned a two-inning save because Dominguez was not available. That’s a big concern and the Phillies will deal with it more on Sunday.
Schwarber tripled in the bottom of the eighth and scored on a hit by Rhys Hoskins to give Robertson a little extra cushion in the ninth.
Kyle Gibson will start the season series finale against the Mets on Sunday. After the game, the Phils will throw a Bon Voyage party for the Mets. But first, they’d like to win one more against one of the better teams and earn a split of the four-game series. The Phils have lost their previous five series against the Mets.
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