It had all the markings of a marquee matchup: The reigning AL Cy Young Award winner on one side. The Phillies’ battle-tested ace on the other. A sun-soaked Saturday at Citizens Bank Park, where the buzz in the air said: buckle up — this could be special.
But the duel never materialized.
Tarik Skubal dominated. Zack Wheeler did not, and the Tigers secured a 7-5 win over the Phillies.
Skubal struck out 10 over seven assertive innings, walking none and giving up just three runs. Wheeler gave up three home runs, nine hits, and four runs (three earned) over six-plus innings. His only saving grace? Ten strikeouts, no walks, and a fourth straight home start with those exact numbers — a franchise first.
That wasn’t enough.
“That’s why I’m so frustrated,” Wheeler said. “Because you know [Skubal’s] not going to give up anything. You just want to go out there and match him and put up zeroes.”
Instead, the Tigers pounced.
Six of the nine hits off Wheeler came against his four-seam fastball — a pitch that, on this day, just didn’t have its usual bite. His sinker? “Probably the worst my sinker’s been,” he admitted. His cutter didn’t fool many either. The Tigers were ready, and they let it rip.
The turning point came in the third inning, when Colt Keith and Kerry Carpenter both homered off middle-cut fastballs. Just like that, the Tigers had a 2–0 lead, and Citizens Bank Park fell quiet.
“He just missed his spots,” manager Rob Thomson said. “The pitch to Keith was kind of yanked to the middle-third. Carpenter’s home run was [on] a four-seamer up.”
Still, Wheeler settled in — at least enough to grind into the seventh. Realmuto helped him get there, cutting down Wenceel Pérez trying to steal second to end the sixth.
That should’ve been the exhale moment.
Instead, it was the prelude.
Wheeler asked to go back out for the seventh. Thomson obliged. Three pitches later, the game had shifted again.
Otto Kemp misplayed a grounder at third. And Javier Báez jumped all over a first-pitch sinker, sending it screaming into the left-field seats.
“That was on me, going back out there for the seventh,” Wheeler said. “I told [Thomson] that I really wanted to. … At the end of the day, maybe I shouldn’t have gone back out there.”
“Baez just jumped on it,” Thomson added.
If this feels like a trend, that’s because it is.
Since his complete-game one-hit masterpiece against the Reds on July 6, Wheeler hasn’t looked the same. The crispness isn’t there. The command? Inconsistent. The results? Concerning.
In his last two starts, he’s been tagged for 12 hits, five homers, and eight runs (seven earned). That’s not the guy who used to make teams guess. That’s a guy trying to recalibrate on the fly.
Still, Thomson sees progress.
“Certainly, the command was much better today,” he said. “So maybe we’re trending in the right direction. … I truly believe he’s going to come out of it.”
For a Phillies club fighting for postseason positioning — and looking at October with serious ambition — they’ll need him to.
Because if this team wants to write a different ending than last fall, they’re going to need their ace… to pitch like one.
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