The Philadelphia Phillies offense came to life again against the Pittsburgh Pirates, plating 10 runs to the Pirates’ six, to combine for 18 runs scored in the past two games. Despite the Phillies’ second straight win and their fifth in the season series against the Pirates, right-hander Zack Wheeler left Wednesday night’s start disgruntled.
Zack Wheeler was “upset” with Don Mattingly’s decision to pull him in the fifth inning
In a conversation with Matt Gelb of The Athletic on Wednesday, Wheeler voiced his displeasure with Phillies interim manager Don Mattingly pulling him with two outs in the fifth inning.
“Yeah,” Wheeler said to Gelb. “I was upset.”
About what?
“Getting taken out of the game,”
“Obviously,” Wheeler said. “I feel like I’ve earned that.”
Did he talk to Mattingly about it?
“Nope,” Wheeler said.
Will he?
“I don’t know,” Wheeler said.
After his removal, Phillies left-hander Kyle Bachus allowed one of Wheeler’s inherited runners to score.
Wheeler did not have his best stuff on a hot and muggy Wednesday evening, but neither did Pirates ace Paul Skenes. Both failed to go five innings to qualify for the win, but Skenes (4.0 innings) did take the loss in the game.
Tossing 4 and 2/3 innings on Wednesday marked the first time in 53 games that Wheeler did not finish a full five innings in a game. However, he did leave with 10 strikeouts.