Phillies look to take advantage of Pirates' road woes

Right-hander Zack Wheeler will try to win his third consecutive start on Saturday when the Philadelphia Phillies attempt to clinch a rivalry series victory against the visiting Pittsburgh Pirates.

Wheeler (4-1, 2.95 ERA), the runner-up to Atlanta's Chris Sale for the 2024 National League Cy Young Award, comes in off back-to-back impressive road wins at Tampa Bay and Cleveland. He allowed just a total of seven hits and two runs over 14 innings while striking out 17.

Wheeler is second to Washington's MacKenzie Gore (84) in strikeouts in the majors with 74 and has a 0.91 WHIP. He comes in off a 3-0 shutout of the Guardians on Sunday when he allowed three hits and walked two over seven innings while striking out eight.

Wheeler is 4-1 with a 2.68 ERA in eight career starts against Pittsburgh with 60 strikeouts in 47 innings. He'll be opposed by right-hander Carmen Mlodzinski (1-3, 5.20 ERA), who is 1-0 with a 1.93 ERA in five career appearances (no starts) against the Phillies.

Philadelphia, which had a streak of five straight series wins snapped when it dropped two of three to St. Louis earlier in the week, opened the three-game series with the Pirates with an 8-4 victory on Friday night.

First baseman Bryce Harper led the way for the Phillies, going 3-for-4 with two runs scored and two RBIs, the 1,000th and 1,001st RBIs of his career. Harper became just the 14th player in major league history to reach 1,000 RBIs, 1,000 runs and 1,000 walks before turning 33. Eleven of the other 13 to do it are in the Hall of Fame: Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, Mel Ott, Ted Williams, Mickey Mantle, Eddie Mathews, Ron Santo, Frank Thomas, Jeff Bagwell and Jim Thome. The other two are Hall of Fame-caliber players -- Barry Bonds and Albert Pujols.

"Not enough. Got to keep going," Harper said when informed of his RBI milestone. "Obviously, a real accomplishment but always want more."

"That's quite a group that he's a part of," Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. "It shows you how great a hitter he's been."

Pittsburgh, behind the pitching of starter Andrew Heaney (one run on four hits over five innings) and a three-run homer by Alexander Canario, took a 3-1 lead into the seventh inning in Friday's series opener before suffering another bullpen implosion.

Pirates relievers combined to allow seven earned runs on five hits, five walks and a hit batter over just three innings.

The Phillies scored four times in the seventh with just one broken-bat single. Two of the runs scored on bases-loaded walks to Kyle Schwarber and J.T. Realmuto, another when Nick Castellanos was hit by a pitch with the bases full, and the final one coming in on a sacrifice fly by Alec Bohm.

It marked the 15th time Pittsburgh squandered a lead in a loss. Only the Chicago White Sox (16) have blown more leads.

"It was tough," Pirates interim manager Don Kelly said. "The walks got to us, and we need to be better there. It got away at the end, but we continued to fight all the way to the last out. Just proud of the way the guys are going about it."

Pittsburgh sits last in the National League Central, 11 games behind the Chicago Cubs. The Pirates fell to 6-17 in away games. Only the Colorado Rockies (2-21) have a worse road mark in the NL.

--Field Level Media