Phillies smash St. Louis, 12-1, behind three homers and a dominant outing from Zack Wheeler

Behind a dominant outing from Zack Wheeler, the Phillies clobbered the St. Louis Cardinals, 12-1.

Wheeler pitched seven-plus innings Saturday, striking out 10, allowing three hits and one run, and walking zero. It marked Wheeler’s fourth double-digit strikeout game of the season and the 20th of his career.

The Phillies entered Saturday one home run away from tying their franchise record of 46 for home runs in a month. Bryson Stott, Nick Castellanos, and Brandon Marsh went deep against the Cardinals to surpass that mark and bring the Phillies’ league-leading home run total to 48 in August.

“Earlier in the season, we weren’t hitting home runs. So it’s good to see,” manager Rob Thomson said. “You look at the back of their baseball cards, and know that it’s coming. It’s just a matter of when.”

Added Marsh: “Let’s add on.”

With the win, the Phillies (71-58) take their second straight series victory and will be back at 1:35 p.m. Sunday looking for a sweep against the Cardinals (56-74).

In his last outing, Aug. 20 against the Washington Nationals, Wheeler allowed five hits and four runs in the first inning and ended up taking the loss. It was a completely different story on Saturday, where he looked dominant from the first batter he faced, as he struck out six of the first seven Cardinals hitters.

“He was electric tonight,” Thomson said. “That’s maybe the best stuff I’ve seen him out of him all year. The four-seam had jump to it, the two-seam had power sink to it, all the secondary pitches were good, and he threw strikes.”

The right-hander didn’t allow a base runner until the third inning, when Cardinals designated hitter Luken Baker smacked a home run down the left-field line, the first of his MLB career.

Baker’s home run was off a sweeper, a pitch Wheeler added to his arsenal in spring training. The sweeper, sometimes also called a slurve, is a variation of a slider with a more horizontal break. It has been one of Wheeler’s best putaway pitches this season and has a 40.8% whiff rate. He’s allowed only three home runs, including Baker’s, off the pitch.

“That was just a mistake that I made, and he hit it,” Wheeler said. “And I knew the type of stuff that I had today, and that wasn’t gonna bother me.”

A softly hit grounder in the third which Trea Turner had to barehand and Tommy Edman was able to beat out was the only other hit or base runner that Wheeler allowed until the eighth inning.

Wheeler, who had been sitting for an extended period of time while the Phillies offense racked up seven runs in the bottom of the seventh, came back out for the eighth and faced one batter. He allowed a leadoff single and was pulled for Gregory Soto.

The velocity of Wheeler’s four-seamer was up on Saturday. He has been averaging 95.9 mph with the pitch over the 2023 season, but that figure was up to 96.8 against the Cardinals. Wheeler touched 98 mph with his four-seamer four times.

Wheeler said the increased velocity is a result of a mechanical adjustment that he’s been working on since before his last start against the Nationals.

“Just stepping a little less backwards into the side, stepping a little more forward with my foot,” Wheeler said. “It’s nothing crazy, but it helps my leg lift. It was getting too big and too much. We’ve kind of simplified it a little bit. It allows me to stay over my back leg, and get down the slope.”

The Phillies fell behind first for the second time against the Cardinals, who took a 1-0 lead with Baker’s homer in the top of the third. And just like Friday night, it was the bottom half of the Phillies lineup that got the offense started.

Marsh, hitting in the eight-hole, extended his hit streak to nine games with a single to lead off the bottom of the third, a new career high.

“I’m glad to see some balls fall — for everyone, too,” Marsh said. “It’s been a good homestand, we just got to keep going and having some fun with it.”

A pair of walks to Jake Cave and Kyle Schwarber loaded the bases with no outs, and Marsh came in to score and tie the game after Turner hit into a double play. An RBI single from Bryce Harper scored Cave and put the Phillies in front, 2-1.

The Phillies tacked on another run in each of the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings to extend their lead to 5-1. They broke the game open in the seventh, capitalizing on six hits — including homers from Castellanos and Marsh — and two walks to plate seven more runs.

“Everybody contributed in one way or another,” Thomson said. “Even [Alec] Bohm, who didn’t have a hit, had a big sac fly when the game was sort of in the balance. ... Maybe one of the most complete games we’ve had overall, defense, offense.”

Five Phillies recorded multi-hit games, with Harper going 3-for-4 with two RBIs and Castellanos and Marsh collecting three RBIs. Cardinals pitchers also allowed seven walks.