Behind vintage Zack Wheeler, Phillies jump all over Nationals in blowout win

Beginning Friday, the Phillies will welcome back some blasts from the past during their annual Alumni Weekend.

On Throwback Thursday, they welcomed back the version of their 2024 team that ran roughshod over their opponents for most of the first half of the season but has been conspicuously absent since.

Phillies 13, Nationals 3.

Here was the vintage Zack Wheeler, holding Washington’s offense to three hits and two runs (one earned) while striking out six in six innings. He’s now 12-5 with a 2.72 earned run average.

There was the lineup that brought back fond memories of those sepia-toned days of May and June. Yes, three home runs. But also low line drives and opposite field hits, passes of the baton (six straight reached base in the first, five in a row in the fourth) that would have made the U.S. Olympic relay team proud and adding on after building a big, early lead.

And everywhere were the runners beating out infield hits, taking extra bases, making the other team pay for its mistakes.

The Phillies jumped on Nats starter Mitchell Parker for four runs in the bottom of the first on a three-run homer by Alec Bohm and a solo shot by Nick Castellanos. They batted around in the fourth and all but put the game away by scoring five more.

Backup outfielder Weston Wilson, getting a rare start as the Phillies faced the first of three lefthanded starters, even hit for the cycle. That’s just the kind of night it was.

“I thought our at bats were really, really good,” manager Rob Thomson said.

After scoring nine times against the Marlins Wednesday, the Phillies have now put up at least nine runs in back-to-back games for the first time in over two years. Bohm has reached base in 32 straight games, the longest single-season streak since Chase Utley (35 in 2006).

After sitting out one game, slumping shortstop Trea Turner (.165/.420 in his previous 21 games) returned to his accustomed second spot in the order and went 3-for-5 with a double, two runs scored and two RBI. He legged out a single in the first inning, notable since he’s looked tentative at times since spending six weeks on the IL with a strained hamstring. “He’s healthy,” Thomson said. “It’s just a matter of him turning it loose and having the confidence nothing else will happen.”

Johan Rojas is 9-for-23 (.333) in his last eight games. It may not be time to start planning the parade route, but those are at least encouraging signs.

Baseball is a marathon, not a sprint, as the Phillies never tired of pointing out while in the process of losing 17 of 24 through Tuesday. Plenty of chances for redemption remaining on the old pocket schedule.

True enough. At the same time, their schedule will pass the three-quarter pole Friday night. The games remaining in which to pull themselves out of their skid and steady themselves for tantalizing prospect of the deep postseason incursion that their torrid start suggested was their destiny are running like sand through the hourglass.

It looked as though they had finally made a U-turn on the last road trip by winning a series at Dodger Stadium against the team with the league’s best record and then taking the opener against a sizzling hot Diamondbacks team in Arizona but that turned out to be a feint, a deke, a false step. They promptly lost four in a row, including Monday at home against the last-place Marlins.

“BOOOO!” responded the vox populi.

Maybe Reset 2.0 will take. Maybe it won’t. After the Nationals leave town following Sunday’s game, the schedule turns unforgiving again: Three at Atlanta, three at Kansas City, three at home against the Astros followed by four more against the Braves.

The Phillies have now won two straight. And if that seems modest considering that the second came against the Nationals and first came against the perpetually-rebuilding Marlins who are the only team keeping Washington out of last place, well, turnarounds have to start somewhere.

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