Phillies held to 2 hits, Wheeler roughed up as losing streak reaches 4 games originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
The Phillies' losing streak grew to four games Wednesday in Toronto as they were two-hit and Zack Wheeler had one of his worst starts of the season.
The Phils lost both games to the Blue Jays and are 46-43 with one series left before the All-Star break. The Phillies and Giants are each one game out of the final NL wild-card spot, trailing the Cardinals, who blew a six-run lead and lost to the Dodgers.
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Entering with a scoreless innings streak of 17⅓, Wheeler had his worst start since his second of the season, allowing six runs over 4⅔ innings in an 8-2 loss.
He retired the Blue Jays in order the first two innings before allowing one in the third, three in the fourth and two in the fifth. In a span of three batters in the fourth inning, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. homered, Alejandro Kirk singled and Teoscar Hernandez went deep himself. Three straight singles in the fifth resulted in two more runs.
The rough night raised Wheeler's ERA from 2.46 to 2.89. He could have had one of his typical seven-inning, two-run performances and it might not have mattered. The Phillies' offense has been close to non-existent for a week. They've scored a total of 12 runs in their last six games and had been held to no runs on one hit when Bryson Stott clubbed a two-run homer with two outs in the seventh inning Wednesday.
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Stott was the Phillies' only productive hitter in Toronto, going 3 for 7 with two homers, three RBI and three of the five runs they scored. His hot bat earned him a bump up to the five-spot in the series finale and he responded.
The Phils went 9 for 65 (.138) with 22 strikeouts in the two-game series.
One of the big questions after Bryce Harper broke his thumb was what would happen to the Phillies' offense when Kyle Schwarber cooled off. He's not going to hit 15 home runs a month, after all. Schwarber has been held hitless in six of the last seven games, going 2 for 28 with a .133 on-base percentage.
Two of the substitute players the Phillies added in Toronto for the unvaccinated group of four that couldn't make the trip made their MLB debuts Wednesday. Relievers Nick Duron and Bubby Rossman each pitched an inning. Duron allowed two hits in a scoreless sixth, while Rossman allowed a two-run homer to Hernandez in the eighth.
After the game, the Phillies optioned third baseman Will Toffey to Triple A, returned Duron and catcher Rafael Marchan to Triple A and returned Rossman to Double A. They have an open roster spot to be filled ahead of Friday’s game because reliever Michael Kelly was optioned to Lehigh Valley Wednesday afternoon.
The Phillies are off Thursday before finishing up the first half with a three-game series in Miami. The Phils lost three of four in Miami the second week of the season and are 3-4 in the season series.
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