Cristian Pache Revenge Game: Phillies 3, Athletics 2

The Phillies capped off their West coast swing with a 3-2 win over the Athletics to finish off a three-game sweep in Oakland and a 6-1 road trip. Zack Wheeler battled through six innings and Kyle Schwarber celebrated June with his first three-hit game of the season and his fourth leadoff home run.

Gutsy pitching

Zack Wheeler didn’t have his best stuff on the day and had to contend with a disadvantageous strike zone, but he was able to gut out six scoreless innings on a day the Phillies were short in the bullpen. He allowed six hits and two walks with four punchouts. Wheeler has now allowed just 2 total runs in 19.1 innings since allowing 7 runs to the Dodgers on June 2nd.

He appeared to be fading in the fifth after allowing two runners and throwing 21 pitches before entering into a battle with Seth Brown with two outs. Brown forced Wheeler to throw nine pitches and worked the count full before whiffing on a curveball to end the inning following four straight foul balls.

Wheeler then came back out for the sixth inning at 97 pitches and retired the A’s in order to finish the day at 105 total pitches thanks to a double play to end the inning.

It’s June. Again.

Schwarber drove in two of the Phillies three runs, the second of which coming in the fifth off an incredibly off-balance fly ball that dropped in for a single to score Cristian Pache. Pache, who hit .166 in 91 games with Oakland last season, ripped two doubles over 100 MPH into the left center field gap and came around to score both times. Trea Turner singled through the hole at short in the eighth to score Pache the second time to push the lead back to 3-1 after Matt Strahm allowed a home run for the second straight game.

Bullpen adventures

Strahm was the first to relieve Wheeler and allowed the aforementioned home run to Aledmys Diaz in the seventh. He was able to end the inning with two strikeouts, but Strahm has now allowed 5 home runs as a reliever this season in just 15.1 IP. The lefty entered today’s game with a 7.71 ERA in five appearances in the month of June.

Jose Alvarado entered in the eighth and allowed a double to pinch hitter Esteury Ruiz and a single to another pinch hitter in Carlos Perez to cut the Phillies lead to 3-2. Despite struggling with control of his cutter, Alvarado was able to limit the damage and strikeout the side around the two hits.

Yunior Marte was given the chance to be the closer with Craig Kimbrel and Gregory Soto both unavailable. Marte responded by striking out the side on 15 pitches to collect his first MLB save. Philadelphia’s pitching staff ended the day with 12 strikeouts to just two walks.

Big homestand looming

The Phillies will be off tomorrow before returning to Philadelphia for a crucial six game-homestand with the Atlanta Braves and New York Mets. Tuesday’s game will start at 6:40 PM and feature a pitching battle of Spencer Strider vs. Ranger Suárez.