Zack Wheeler struck out 11, including seven in a row to start the game, and Bryson Stott hit a tiebreaking single with two outs in the eighth inning as the Philadelphia Phillies inched closer to clinching a playoff spot with a 6-4 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday night.
Wheeler reached 2,000 career strikeouts when he fanned Brice Turang to end the first, becoming the 96th pitcher in MLB history to reach the milestone.
“Just being where I am now, it’s pretty special,” Wheeler said of the career milestone, according to MLB.com. “It’s a huge thank you to all the catchers that I’ve had along the way that helped me get here, the coaches and the guys that played behind me. It means a lot to me, and I really appreciate everybody’s effort around it.”
Unhittable at the outset, Wheeler had sights on Pablo López‘s MLB record of nine strikeouts in a row to open a contest before Cooper Pratt grounded out to third base for the second out of the third inning.
“I didn’t know what to expect coming out,” Wheeler said. “Just one of those days for me.”
Wheeler is the only Phillies pitcher since 1900 with seven straight strikeouts to start a game, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Watching Wheeler from the dugout was teammate Aaron Nola, who has a share of the MLB record with 10 consecutive strikeouts of the New York Mets in 2021.
Brandon Marsh homered, doubled and drove in three runs for Philadelphia, which is tied with the Chicago Cubs and San Diego Padres at 87-70 for the three National League wild cards — four games ahead of the Arizona Diamondbacks with five to play. The Phillies hold a tiebreaker over the Padres but not the Cubs.
William Contreras had three RBIs for NL Central champion Milwaukee. The Brewers, by virtue of Cincinnati‘s 4-0 win over Atlanta, clinched a bye in the wild-card round and earned home-field advantage for the division series. The Brewers dropped to 13-6 this month and were not able to extend their franchise record of 98 wins, set in Sunday’s 3-0 victory at Baltimore.
After the Brewers scored twice in the sixth inning off Wheeler to tie the game at 3, Stott singled to center off Colton Gordon (0-1). Garrett Mitchell‘s throw went to third base to try to get Alec Bohm running from first, but the ball ricocheted off Bohm’s foot and both he and Luis Arraez scored to make it 5-3.
Jhoan Duran earned his 33rd save after Jose Alvarado (5-3) got the final out of the eighth.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
