How Phillies starter Zack Wheeler found his zen and shut down the Padres in Game 1 of the NLCS

SAN DIEGO — A few hours before the biggest start of his career, Zack Wheeler was playing Golden Tee. He was not playing it alone. He was playing it with his teammate, Kyle Schwarber.

This is not typical behavior for a starting pitcher, let alone one of Wheeler’s stature. Most tend to keep to themselves before they take the mound, whether that means listening to music with their headphones on or choosing not to engage with their teammates. But Wheeler likes to treat his starts like any other day. Which is he why he decided to play nine holes with the Phillies’ starting left fielder on Tuesday afternoon.

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And it worked. Wheeler pitched into the seventh inning in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series on Tuesday night, allowing just one hit and one walk against a tough Padres lineup. He struck out Juan Soto twice. After that second strikeout, Soto, one of the best hitters in the world, flung his bat up in the air, as if to say, “I give up.”

It’s hard to blame him. Catcher J.T. Realmuto was asked what was working so well for Wheeler after the game, and before he answered, he let out a long laugh. The better question was whether there was anything that wasn’t working for Wheeler on Tuesday night.

His velocity was up. He was mixing his pitches. He was getting ahead in the count. He was pitching to both sides of the plate with his fastball and throwing just enough off-speed pitches to keep the Padres guessing.

It was one of his best outings of the season, and it came on the road, in Petco Park, where 44,826 Padres fans were frantically waving their yellow rally towels in an attempt to will Wheeler to make a mistake. It was a futile effort. Wheeler was striking out his opponents at a rate of 70%. There weren’t many mistakes to be had.

Realmuto has been in the big leagues since 2014. He has caught some good pitchers — José Fernández, Jake Arrieta, and Nathan Eovaldi, to name a few — but he says what differentiates Wheeler is his unflappability.

“He’s so calm out there,” Realmuto said. “Even before the game, he was just hanging out, doing his regular stuff. You wouldn’t know he was pitching that day. A lot of pitchers are amped up, stressed out. You can see it in their face. They’re a little nervous.

“You put him up against the best hitters in the world, and I’ll take Zack every time. He’s just got that kind of power stuff. That type of command and that type of confidence.”

What’s ironic about Wheeler’s start on Tuesday is that despite all of his attempts to minimize the pressure, he was nervous. In the first inning, he threw 24 pitches. He allowed his only walk of the night, to Soto. But in the next at-bat, he won a nine-pitch battle against Manny Machado, which ended in Machado flying out to left field. Wheeler struck out Josh Bell to end the inning. He had found his rhythm.

“I think I had to settle down the nerves a little bit,” he said. “I had the nerves going. As much as I try to stay calm out there, I’m human, also.

“The nerves got to me a little bit, but I was able to settle in, just try to stay on the game plan, throw first-pitch strikes, get ahead of guys, and try to get quick outs.”

And he did just that. Wheeler needed just eight pitches to get through second, five to get through the third, and 10 to get through fourth. He didn’t allow a hit until the fifth, a single to Wil Meyers, which didn’t amount to anything, because Wheeler retired the next two batters.

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After he breezed through the seventh inning, on 12 pitches, many were questioning whether the right-handed starter should come back out for the eighth. But Thomson said after the game that he consulted Wheeler and that they decided to end his outing at seven innings.

Realmuto says he can tell when Wheeler will have his best stuff by the way his pitches hit his glove during their pregame bullpen session. On Tuesday night, he felt that something special was about to unfold.

“My hand was a little sore from catching it,” he said. “Any time that happens, that’s a good sign.”