Zack

Wheeler

Wheeler scattered just two hits and one walk in the magnificent outing. The two hits that he allowed in the ballgame were a two-out double by Cal Raleigh in the opening inning and a two-out infield single by Victor Robles in the third. He finished the day by retiring the final 15 hitters that he faced in order. The 34-year-old right-hander generated 14 swings and misses on 96 pitches on the afternoon — six of those on his fastball — while registering a CSW of 30 percent. He’ll look to replicate this fine outing when he brings a 2.77 ERA, 0.98 WHIP and a 148/41 K/BB ratio (136 2/3 innings) into Friday’s matchup against the Diamondbacks in Arizona.

Wheeler was lit up for a staggering seven hits, including a trio of solo homers from Aaron Judge, Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Ben Rice, respectively, in one of his worst outings of the year. The 34-year-old fantasy ace struck out six and also handed out a trio of free passes. It would be easy to characterize it as a blip on the radar, but the fact that he’s been dealing with a back issue the last few weeks complicates matters. He’ll aim to rebound on Sunday in a road matchup against the Mariners at pitcher-friendly T-Mobile Park.

Wheeler and opposing starter Simeon Woods Richardson pitched a combined 13 scoreless frames on the night. Wheeler allowed a double to Twins left fielder Matt Wallner in the fifth inning, but otherwise kept the Twins out of scoring position while striking out seven. Wheeler has struck out seven batters in each of his last three starts while allowing three earned runs over 18 innings pitched in that span. He’ll look to pick up his 11th win of the season when he makes the start on Monday against the Yankees.

Thomson added that both starters will be re-evaluated this weekend before they finalize a plan. However, barring anything unexpected, it seems like both Wheeler and Suárez — who have been dealing with minor back issues — will be ready to take the ball in the coming days when the Phillies travel to Minnesota.

No surprise here as the Phillies made this decision with their starting rotation earlier this week. It’ll probably be Cristopher Sánchez taking the ball on Saturday with Tyler Phillips probably making another spot start in the series finale. We know for sure that Zack Wheeler and Ranger Suárez, both of whom are dealing with minor back issues, will not take the ball this weekend against the Pirates, but are expected to be ready to go early next week for a road series against the Twins.

The team is simply taking a cautious approach with their ace, holding him out of action in their series against the Pirates in Pittsburgh to start the second half of the season. The 34-year-old right-hander has gone 10-4 with a 2.70 ERA, 0.99 WHIP and a 126/35 K/BB ratio over 116 2/3 innings in 19 starts on the season.

The positive news here for fantasy managers is that an MRI on Wheeler’s back didn’t reveal anything serious and he’s expected to be ready to roll coming out of next week’s All-Star break. It’s a tough development for fantasy purposes as the veteran fantasy ace loses an extremely favorable start during Sunday’s first-half finale against a rebuilding Oakland squad that has been piling up the strikeouts of late.

Phillies’ skipper Rob Thomson said Wednesday that it’s too early to tell whether or not Wheeler will be able to make his scheduled start in the club’s first-half finale against the Athletics on Sunday. They’ll have a better idea on his status on Thursday. Expect the team to take every possible precaution here as they approach the All-Star break.

Thomson added that Wheeler’s early exit from Tuesday’s start against the Dodgers was merely for precautionary reasons after his back tightened up on him after five innings. The 34-year-old fantasy ace will be re-evaluated on Wednesday out of an abundance of caution, but all indications are that he’ll be ready to take the ball this weekend.

Wheeler left the game after five innings with back tightness, but the Phillies were already up 9-1 at the time, so it’s possible the team was just being cautious with their ace. Wheeler walked two on the day and struck out seven while posting a 31 percent whiff rate and 30 percent CSW. He’s set to pitch against Oakland this weekend, but it’s possible the Phillies could decide to simply rest him with the All-Star break looming.