Trea Turner and Bryce Harper say Zack Wheeler’s blood-clot scare helped inspire the Phillies

Little things make big differences in baseball, differences that are good and bad.

Often, the most maddening aspect of the rich and talented Phillies involves their apparent indifference to the little things, be that smart baserunning or competent fielding or situational hitting.

There’s been something different about the Phillies the past few days. In fact, since ace Zack Wheeler left the team Saturday to prepare for blood-clot surgery performed Monday, the rich and talented remaining Phillies have done the little things very well, winning four in a row after losing four of five. They’ve scored 40 runs since Saturday.

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It’s as if subtracting the team’s best player somehow sobered the roster. It underscored how quickly fate can rob you of the privilege of playing a game for a living. No one knows what Wheeler’s future will be. His present situation gave the Phillies a reason to rally.

Or did it?

“I honestly feel like we’ve been playing like this for a little bit,” Trea Turner said Wednesday. “I also think losing a guy like that’s really big and can bring you together.”

Losing a guy like that clearly stunned the Phillies at first. They sleepwalked through a 2-0 loss Saturday evening in Washington immediately after the announcement of Wheeler’s ailment.

But the next day, they supported Aaron Nola’s disastrous, six-run return from the IL with 11 runs; scored 12 to beat the Mariners on Monday; then broke a tie in the eighth inning to win again Tuesday and dissected the Fishermen in the finale Wednesday, a perfect start to the first of six homestretch series against teams with winning records.

They know Wheels is watching.

“Obviously, when you have a player that’s going through something that’s way bigger than the game and everything else, kind of makes you want to win a little bit more for him,” Bryce Harper said. “I don’t know if it helped us, but we’re playing good baseball right now. We got to keep doing that.”

Inspired or not, it’s unlikely they can keep playing good baseball at this level.

Turner, the team’s leadoff hitter, had 13 hits (five Wednesday), seven RBIs, scored nine runs, and stole three bases in the four wins. Harper had seven hits, two homers, and seven RBIs. Kyle Schwarber embellished his MVP candidacy with seven hits, two homers, and eight RBIs, five of them Wednesday.

They did mostly big things.

But it was the little things that provided the most hope. It was the little things that reflected the Phillies’ intensified focus.

A little thing: Bryson Stott, Turner, Schwarber, and Harper slapped RBI singles in the five-run seventh inning Wednesday, executing the sort of small ball that deserted them the past two foiled playoff runs.

A little thing: Leading off the fifth inning Tuesday night, Seattle’s J.P. Crawford hit a humpback liner to right field. Nick Castellanos — instead of diving and risking the ball getting past him for an extra-base hit, and instead of stopping short and forfeiting a chance to make a play — charged the ball, kept his feet, and deftly fielded it on one hop. Castellanos is, by any metric, the worst outfielder in baseball this season; this, for him, was an elite play. The Mariners got another hit, and Crawford wound up stranded at third, which preserved a 4-0 lead.

» READ MORE: Hayes: Phillies prospect Justin Crawford and Johan Rojas can benefit if Brandon Marsh is the real deal

A little thing: After working an eight-pitch walk to start the third inning Tuesday, Stott stole second on an 0-1 count. He moved to third on Turner’s single, and then Turner stole second on the first pitch to Schwarber. A sacrifice fly, then a hit, drove them in for a 3-1 lead. J.T. Realmuto also stole second later in the third. They had four more steals Wednesday.

A little thing: In the second inning Tuesday, Stott misread a ground ball hit by Schwarber to first base and he broke for home, but Stott extended the ensuing rundown long enough so Schwarber could reach second base. Schwarber had enough presence of mind to do so.

A little thing: Jesús Luzardo threw over to first base after Julio Rodríguez led off the third inning Wednesday with a single, but Rodríguez broke for second base. Harper, a converted right fielder, made a perfect throw and nailed Rodríguez. Two batters later, Brandon Marsh properly surrounded a sinking liner from Mitch Garver and caught it as he slid, completely controlled, on one knee.

A little thing: In the sixth inning on Monday, Harrison Bader perfectly judged a leadoff drive by Eugenio Suárez that caromed off “Monty’s Angle” just left of center field, which is an architectural oddity former late Phillies president David Montgomery incorporated into the outfield to encourage triples. Not only did Bader hold Suárez to a double that eventually left him stranded at second and preserved a 4-1 lead; both corner outfielders were speeding to his aid if he’d needed it.

“We had three hats going to the ball when it hit that wall,” manager Rob Thomson said. “Castellanos was getting close, and Marsh was right there.”

Alec Bohm got the second out of the inning when he charged a tricky ground ball from Garver.

“When he made his move, I went, ‘Oh, no,’” Turner said. “And then he makes the play. It’s plays like that are the difference in the inning speeding up on you, giving a window to the other team, or shutting it down.”

The implication that the bad news about Wheeler acted as the catalyst for the Phillies’ $245 million payroll to start playing so well two-thirds of the way through the season begs the question: Why weren’t they playing better baseball all along?

Well, even at their best, they’re not elite defenders or baserunners. They’ve had roster issues because of injuries to key players as well as an 80-game suspension to popular and ebullient closer José Alvarado, who pitched Wednesday for the first time in three months.

» READ MORE: Phillies prepare for life without Zack Wheeler: ‘People have got to step up’

Also, they’re human. A baseball season ebbs and flows, and it’s only natural that the subtraction of a guy who is deeply respected and utterly beloved would strengthen his teammates’ resolve … right?

“I don’t think they’re completely related, but maybe I’m just being a little removed, or a little or a little skeptical of that,” Turner said. “We played well lately. We just hadn’t played like the total package every day.”

Whether it’s been inspiration, desperation, or coincidence, they’ve played like the total package ever since they learned they lost their ace.