As Philadelphia Phillies star Zack Wheeler threw a near-perfect game on Sunday afternoon against the Cincinnati Reds in the 3-1 win, it garnered the response of manager Rob Thomson after the outing. With the Phillies pitcher in Wheeler coming off an impressive month, the excellence has bled over to July, throwing a complete game.

It would end up being Wheeler's first complete game since 2021, where he only allowed one single hit and one run which was a home run by Austin Hayes in the fifth inning. He would rack up 12 strikeouts in nine innings, where a media member asked Thomson if that's as good as he's seen Wheeler pitch, leading to an answer without hesitation, according to Luke Arcaini.

“Yes,” Thomson said. “After the fourth [inning], I thought, ‘This has a chance to be a no-hitter or a perfect game.'”

Wheeler ended up throwing 108 pitches in the contest, where Thomson said that he felt comfortable with the 35-year-old reaching 115 pitches, calling his performance “dominant,” per ESPN.

“He was just dominant,” Thomson said. “He had everything working — control, command. Everything was just great.”

Outing from Zack Wheeler has not been seen in the Phillies in 125 years

Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Zack Wheeler (45) throws a pitch during the second inning against the Cincinnati Reds at Citizens Bank
Eric Hartline-Imagn Images

While the Phillies star in Wheeler reached 1,000 strikeouts in his career this season, it will no doubt keep rising as he's been exceptional this season, having a 2.17 ERA to go along with 148 punch out (third in MLB) and a 9-3 record. Looking specifically at Sunday's game, his performance for Philadelphia was historic.

So much so that a pitcher for the Phillies hasn't had 12 or more strikeouts, zero walks, and one or no hits in a game in the last 125 years, according to Sarah Langs. In fact, with Wheeler being 35 years old, the only other pitchers older to have such a stat line are Randy Johnson and R.A. Dickey.

At any rate, the win brings Philadelphia to a 53-37 record, which puts them first in the NL East division, as next up for the team is a three-game series against the San Francisco Giants that starts on Monday.