The collective hearts of Philadelphia Phillies fans around the country skipped a beat on Monday night, when ace starting pitcher Zack Wheeler left his start early against the Miami Marlins.
Wheeler was struggling. In the first two innings, he had given up five runs to a struggling Marlins team. On top of that, his velocity was down, and Wheeler threw a 91 mph sinker in the third inning. For the entire night, his fastball was down an average of 1.7 mph, a sign of injury, and the Phillies pulled him after three innings.
The injury scare was very real. Luckily, after the game, Wheeler was able to share a positive update on where he stands.
“One of those days,” Wheeler said. “You have a bad day every once in a while I’m sure, right?”
Interim manager Don Mattingly, for his part, seemed to agree. It was a bad day, not an injury.
“For me, it just looked like the ball wasn’t coming good out today,” Mattingly said. “You see the velocity right away – 93. The ball didn’t seem to have that same zip.”
Mattingly also added that Wheeler was dealing with nausea. However, that wasn’t an excuse that Wheeler himself was willing to use
“It didn’t really affect me,” Wheeler said. “The ball wasn’t coming out like I wanted it to. My body wasn’t moving like I wanted it to. I was just trying to get through it. Some games I can. Today I couldn’t… Yesterday playing catch, I felt really good. I wish I could have pitched yesterday, I told some guys. Today was the complete opposite. No excuses. It was one of those days for me. It stinks.”
Even with Wheeler leaving the game early, the Phillies offense put the team in a position to win. It was 7-5 going into the ninth inning. However, star closer Jhoan Duran couldn’t hold the lead, and the Phillies dropped to 3-7 since the All-Star break.
“No,” Wheeler said. “Just one of those days. You ever have a bad day once in a while? I pitch once every five days so it looks bad.”
Philadelphia Phillies SP Zack Wheeler Has Been Excellent Returning from Injury
GettyPhiladelphia Phillies SP Zack Wheeler
The Philadelphia Phillies lost Zack Wheeler for their playoff push a season ago. On August 16, 2025, a blood clot was discovered in his shoulder. About a week after that, he was diagnosed with venous thoracic outlet syndrome, and he would need to undergo season-ending surgery.
Wheeler then continued to rehab throughout the offseason, and he wouldn’t be ready for the start of the 2026 season. Instead, he made his debut after being activated from the IL on April 25th, sparking a Phillies team that was struggling at the time.
He hit the ground running. Now, in 17 starts and 103.0 innings, he has a 2.53 ERA, a 0.922 WHIP, and 10.7 strikeouts per nine. In other words, he’s been elite, and had it not been for the lack of starts in April, and a certain amount of stubbornness, he would have been an All-Star in his return from injury.
The Phillies Need Zack Wheeler
GettyPhiladelphia Phillies SP Zack Wheeler
At this point in the season, one thing is brutally clear. The Philadelphia Phillies can’t afford to lose Zack Wheeler.
With a 3-7 record since the All-Star break, the Phillies are struggling. They’ve slipped to 5.5 games behind the Atlanta Braves, and they’re struggling to fend off a competitive NL Wild Card slot.
They’ve been doing that on the back of their top-heavy rotation, led by Wheeler and Cristopher Sanchez. However, behind the two of them, even in the rotation things get dicey. Jesus Luzardo has been good in the middle of the rotation. However, Aaron Nola now has a 5.82 ERA this season and the season’s initial No. 5 starter and top-pitching prospect Andrew Painter got sent to the minors. In his place, Alan Rangel hasn’t exactly dominated.
Because of that, it’s no surprise that there is a long list of trade rumors for the Phillies, including for a back-end of the rotation arm.
That need only gets worse if the Phillies were to lose Wheeler for any length of time. So, hopefully the optimism he and Mattingly shared after the game ends up being the case.
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