The All-Star break was waiting. The festivities in Philadelphia were waiting. A flight home, a few days away from the grind and one of baseball’s biggest weeks were waiting.
The Phillies did not play like a team already thinking about any of it.
They closed the first half Sunday with what interim manager Don Mattingly called “probably our best game of the year,” riding Zack Wheeler’s six scoreless innings and another decisive swing from J.T. Realmuto to a 5-0 victory over the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park.
It was not their loudest win. They did not hit a home run. They did not bury Detroit with a relentless parade of extra-base hits.
They simply controlled the game.
Wheeler allowed two hits, walked two and struck out 10, improving to 10-1 and lowering his ERA to 2.13. Jose Alvarado, Orion Kerkering and Jonathan Bowlan followed with three perfect innings, completing a two-hit shutout and sending the Phillies into the break at 54-43 after taking two of three from Detroit.
For Wheeler, the performance continued a forceful response to being omitted from the original National League All-Star roster. Five days after tying his career high with 14 strikeouts in Cincinnati, he produced 10 more against the Tigers. That gave him 24 strikeouts across 13 scoreless innings in his final two starts before the break.
The sharpest part of Sunday’s outing was that Wheeler did not believe he possessed his sharpest arsenal.
“Splitter probably saved me today,” Wheeler told reporters afterward, according to NBC Sports Philadelphia.
That pitch became the separator. Detroit’s hitters had to respect Wheeler’s fastball, but the splitter repeatedly disappeared beneath their swings. Six of his strikeouts ended on the pitch, allowing Wheeler to dominate a lineup that had won six straight before Philadelphia took the final two games of the series.
The Tigers’ best opportunity came in the sixth, when Kevin McGonigle and Colt Keith walked with two outs. Wheeler responded by striking out Riley Greene on his 96th and final pitch, preserving the shutout and ending his afternoon with the game firmly under Philadelphia’s control.
Realmuto helped put it there.
He scored the first run after being hit by Tarik Skubal to begin the third inning. Bryson Stott moved him to second with a groundout, and Kyle Schwarber delivered a two-out single to left for a 1-0 lead.
The Phillies threatened again in the fifth, when Realmuto singled and Stott doubled, but Skubal struck out Trea Turner and Schwarber to escape. That felt important at the time. Against a pitcher of Skubal’s caliber, wasted opportunities tend to remain expensive.
Philadelphia made sure the next one counted.
Bryce Harper opened the sixth with a single that ended Skubal’s afternoon. Alec Bohm followed with an infield hit against Keider Montero. After Edmundo Sosa advanced both runners and Brandon Marsh was intentionally walked, Derek Hill struck out, leaving Realmuto as the final obstacle between Detroit and another escape.
Realmuto drove a sinker into the left-field corner. Harper, Bohm and Marsh scored, aided by McGonigle’s throwing error on the relay. Stott then beat out an infield single after a successful Phillies challenge, bringing Realmuto home and stretching the lead to 5-0.
It was the second consecutive day Realmuto delivered the hit that opened the game. His three-run double Saturday helped Philadelphia win, 4-2. His three-run double Sunday removed nearly all remaining suspense.
The Phillies finished their nine-game trip through Kansas City, Cincinnati and Detroit at 5-4. They return from the break two games behind Atlanta in the National League East, a remarkable position for a club that began the season 9-19.
All-Star Week now belongs to Philadelphia.
The Phillies earned the right to enjoy it by refusing to begin their break one game early.
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