Over the past few weeks, Zack Wheeler has become a reason to tune in to watch the Mets. But last night, he was merely pedestrian, while the team’s offense took off, scoring five runs through the first five innings before exploding for a nine-run sixth. They tacked on a couple more in the ninth, too.
To be clear, Wheeler wasn’t bad. He gave up just one run, but he used 95 pitches to get through five innings. He struck out three, walked two, and gave up five hits. The Orioles weren’t really doing anything damaging, but they were making Wheeler work hard to get outs against a team that was already bad before trading away Manny Machado and a bunch of other players.