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The Philadelphia Phillies have a 5.5-game lead over the New York Mets in the National League East standings entering Monday. The Phillies have also won seven of their last 10 games and are on the right trend heading into the final month of the season.
However, there is some concern regarding pitcher Zach Wheeler. The Phillies veteran had his start pushed back due to shoulder soreness, although he was able to finally give it a go on Sunday against the Texas Rangers.
Wheeler threw five innings and gave up two runs on three hits with seven strikeouts and three walks as the Phillies won, 4-2.
But, still, Wheeler's velocity was not where it usually is, and he addressed that as well as the injury concern after the game, according to Paul Casella of MLB.com.
“Honestly, it's been a while,” Wheeler said in regards to the shoulder issue. “It finally just got to that point to where we wanted to go get an image of it so we could treat, specifically, what needed to be treated and not just guess.”
“I'm not concerned. It'll come back,” Wheeler added about his velocity issues.
Casella also mentioned Wheeler's obvious velocity drop on Sunday, although Phillies catcher JT Realmuto didn't seem bothered by it, either.
“That's the type of pitcher he is. Even when he doesn't have his best stuff, he's going to give us a chance to win the game. He's going to go out there and compete, and he's going to find a way to get it done.”
Phillies manager Rob Thomson was also not worried one bit: “I'm not concerned. He just looks like he's a little bit out of sync, that's all.”
For now, nobody seems to be worried that Wheeler's velocity dropped, and it helps that he still went five innings and wound up as the winning pitcher.
Wheeler's next start should come in the series against the Washington Nationals this weekend, barring any injury flare-up from the veteran.
