Phillies batters strike out 18 times... in a win

“A win is a win is a win.”

“Good teams just find a way to get it done.”

“They all look the same in the W column.”

Pick your favorite cliche about winning ugly and it was probably applicable in the Phillies’ 2-1 victory over the Angels on Wednesday. The Phils improved to 21-11, their best start to a season since 2011 and their eighth-best start in the history of the franchise. The team hasn’t lost a series since April 1-3 against the Reds. And they have the most wins in baseball.

With all that success, it’s tough to nitpick. But this wasn’t the Phillies’ finest performance.

On offense, they struck out 18 times. It was just the eleventh time since at least 1901 that Phils batters struck out 18 times or more (the record is 20, which happened in both 2009 against the Red Sox and 2013 against Arizona). The Phillies lost eight of their ten previous 18+ strikeout games before Wednesday’s win.

The pitching wasn’t fantastic either, despite allowing just two runs. Zack Wheeler improved to 3-3 with a 1.91 ERA, but he was pulled after five innings because he’d already thrown 106 pitches.

After his previous start against the Reds, despite throwing six shutout innings in a win, Wheeler expressed concern about his performance: “Two hits, but also a bunch of walks, which is frustrating,” said the ace after that game. “The results are good, just need to fix the deep counts and [four] walks.” The deep counts reappeared in this one, as he ran full counts against seven hitters, just as he had in the Cincinnati game. But Wheeler walked just one Angels batter.

Wheeler conceded afterwards that he didn’t have his best stuff. He attributed that, at least in part, to extra time in between his starts. “Having more days’ rest, just not being as sharp,” said Wheeler when discussing Wednesday’s performance. “At some points in the season, you probably need it. But it’s another day of trying to keep that rhythm that I’ve had going. It’s just another day to try to keep it in sync.” The ace’s preference to pitch on normal rest will probably factor into any decision with respect to six-man rotations–a frequent topic of conversation nowadays, given the success of Spencer Turnbull and Taijuan Walker’s return to health.

The Phillies may work with some type of five/six-man hybrid rotation, or a “piggyback” approach where two guys sometimes team up with the expectation to pitch four or five innings each. In theory, a game like that every five days could help keep the bullpen fresh. Manager Rob Thomson said Wednesday that he’s “absolutely” open to a piggyback approach, though he declined to say whether he’s made any decision yet.

So the rotation specifics moving forward are yet to be determined. But again, we’re nitpicking here. Wheeler allowed just one run and the bullpen held the Angels scoreless after his exit. Matt Strahm, Orion Kerkering, Jose Alvarado, and Gregory Soto handled an inning each.

And despite the lineup’s strikeouts, Kyle Schwarber’s two-RBI single in the second inning turned out to be all the runs the Phillies needed.

“If this is a time that [Wheeler] is struggling, I can’t wait to see the good times,” said Schwarber after the game.

Bullseye quote from Schwarber. And we could probably apply it to the entire Phillies team on Wednesday.