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Zack Wheeler displeased despite Phillies win over the Pirates

Philadelphia Phillies starting pitcher Zack Wheeler (45) Brad Penner-Imagn Images

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Zack Wheeler displeased despite Phillies win over the Pirates

By Zachary Cariola | Last updated Jul 2, 2026 9:42 AM ET

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The Philadelphia Phillies offense came to life again against the Pittsburgh Pirates, plating 10 runs to the Pirates' six, to combine for 18 runs scored in the past two games. Despite the Phillies' second straight win and their fifth in the season series against the Pirates, right-hander Zack Wheeler left Wednesday night's start disgruntled.

Zack Wheeler was "upset" with Don Mattingly's decision to pull him in the fifth inning

In a conversation with Matt Gelb of The Athletic on Wednesday, Wheeler voiced his displeasure with Phillies interim manager Don Mattingly pulling him with two outs in the fifth inning.

“Yeah,” Wheeler said to Gelb. “I was upset.”

About what?

“Getting taken out of the game,”

“Obviously,” Wheeler said. “I feel like I’ve earned that.”

Did he talk to Mattingly about it?

“Nope,” Wheeler said.

Will he?

“I don’t know,” Wheeler said.

After his removal, Phillies left-hander Kyle Bachus allowed one of Wheeler's inherited runners to score.

Wheeler did not have his best stuff on a hot and muggy Wednesday evening, but neither did Pirates ace Paul Skenes. Both failed to go five innings to qualify for the win, but Skenes (4.0 innings) did take the loss in the game.

Tossing 4 and 2/3 innings on Wednesday marked the first time in 53 games that Wheeler did not finish a full five innings in a game. However, he did leave with 10 strikeouts.

Zack Wheeler's streak of pitching at least 5 innings ends tonight at 53 games. He struck out 10 batters so we will cut him some slack.

It's the longest such streak in the big leagues in over 7 years. pic.twitter.com/ferDTY74Kf
— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) July 2, 2026

Zack Wheeler not going five innings could affect the Phillies on Thursday

Wheeler's inability to give the Phillies some length on Wednesday could affect the bullpen for Thursday. Playing an afternoon game, temperatures will approach 100 degrees.

The Phillies are starting right-hander Alan Rangel, who has been used as the 'bulk arm," but will be making his first start of the season. After using four bullpen arms on Wednesday, which included closer Jhoan Duran (14 pitches), Mattingly will likely need Rangel to at least go five innings.

Left-hander Tim Mayza and right-handers Jonathan Bowlan and Lou Trivino were not used on Wednesday and are available to be used if Rangel gets into trouble.

The Phillies need not worry that Zack Wheeler will have more outings like this

Wheeler's poor outing against the Pirates is only his second bad start (in 13 starts) since his activation from the injured list in April. Wheeler's last "blowup" start came on May 29 against the Los Angeles Dodgers, where he allowed four earned runs (on four home runs) in six innings.

Outside of these two starts, Wheeler has been money, tallying a 4-0 record in June with a 1.71 ERA, a .165 batting average against and striking out 34 in 31.2 innings. And outside of the Dodgers' start, Wheeler allowed five earned runs and would have been 4-0 instead of 4-1.

Zachary Cariola

My name is Zachary Cariola and I have been a sports fan for as long as I can remember. My areas of expertise are MLB, NBA, and NFL. When I’m not writing, I love spending time with my family and learning history.

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