Phillies, Wheeler Shutdown the Padres to take NLCS Game 1

The Philadelphia Phillies —led by Zack Wheeler, Bryce Harper, and Kyle Schwarber—defeated the San Diego Padres 2-0 on Tuesday night to take a 1-0 Series lead.

Wheeler was dominant again. The Phils’ ace threw 7-innings of one hit, no run baseball. Outside of a 24-pitch first where he issued a walk, Wheeler cruised striking out eight to earn the win.

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Harper got the Phillies on the board with a solo home run off of Padres starter Yu Darvish in the 4th. It was Harper’s third consecutive game with a home run. The Phils’ DH is now batting .407 with 4 HR and 7 RBI this postseason.

He’s locked in.

Schwarber added the Phillies second run on a home run that is somewhere on the way to South Philadelphia. The ball was utterly destroyed.

Schwarber was 2-for-3 on the night and is showing signs of coming out of his slump.

Seranthony Dominguez relieved Wheeler in the 8th and sat the Padres down on nine pitches.

Rob Thomson tabbed Jose Alvarado to close the game and it got a bit dicey. Alvarado allowed a one-out walk to Jurickson Profar which put the winning run at the plate in the form of Juan Soto.

The dangerous slugger grounded into what looked like a game ending double play. However, third baseman Alec Bohm —who field the ball in the shortstop spot because of the shift— threw offline and Bryson Stott was unable to handle the throw. The Padres suddenly had life with Manny Machado and Josh Bell due up.

Alvarado was able to get Machado to fly out Nick Castellanos in short right field. He followed with a nasty strikeout of Bell to end the ballgame.

Game 2 of the series takes place Wednesday afternoon in San Diego. First pitch is set for 4:37 PM/Eastern. The Phillies will have their (other) ace, Aaron Nola, on the mound against San Diego’s Blake Snell.