Zack Wheeler offers the latest reminder star-heavy Phillies can’t afford off nights

MIAMI — As Zack Wheeler flung a 91 mph sinker, pitching coaches Caleb Cotham and Mark Lowy sat on a bench that offered them a straight-line view of their 36-year-old ace and a scoreboard that displayed the troubling velocity readings. Paul Buchheit, the Philadelphia Phillies’ head athletic trainer, leaned in to confer with the pair after the pitch reached J.T. Realmuto for a strike.

The Phillies had already huddled in the previous inning to determine whether Wheeler should keep pitching. His stuff was diminished. He lacked command. The Miami Marlins, who entered Monday on a 12-game losing streak, hit him hard.

They would not have kept pitching Wheeler if he appeared to be hurt. So, he trudged through three stress-inducing innings. He was nowhere near his best, and that’s the problem with these Phillies, who have hit a wall. Monday’s surprising 8-7 loss to the Marlins was the latest nine-inning evidence they are constructed in a manner that affords their star players no leeway. They cannot have bad nights because the surrounding roster is not strong enough to overcome that.

“Being able to pick Zack up like that after all the time that he’s picked us up in the last seven years,” Realmuto said, “that would have been nice to do.”

They almost did. Then closer Jhoan Duran blew a save when he surrendered three runs, the first runs he’s allowed in more than six weeks. He has to be perfect because the Phillies play so many close games; without Duran, they would not still occupy a playoff position.

The Phillies have lost seven of 10 games since the All-Star break.

The wins and losses are secondary to Wheeler’s health. After his shortest outing in more than four seasons that featured the second-lowest average velocity on his four-seam fastball, the clubhouse projected calmness.

“Just one of those games,” said Wheeler, who allowed five runs in those three innings Monday. “One of these days. It just wasn’t coming out. I don’t know. No excuse, just a bad game.”

“He said he felt physically fine,” Phillies interim manager Don Mattingly said. “Just the ball wasn’t coming out.”

Mattingly said Wheeler, who flew ahead of the team Sunday because the Phillies did not arrive at their hotel until after 3 a.m. Monday, reported some nausea after his outing.

“I mean, that didn’t really affect me out there,” Wheeler said. “The ball just wasn’t coming out like I wanted to. My body wasn’t moving like I wanted it to. I was trying to get through it. Some games I can. Just today, I couldn’t.”

Wheeler, who is less than a year removed from a dangerous blood clot that revealed thoracic outlet syndrome, has defied expectations after such a major injury. The Phillies have protected him at every step; letting him pitch through something Monday night would have run counter to that. But there will be skepticism about this being a radar blip until Wheeler appears in a game again — Sunday at Camden Yards in Baltimore.

“One of those days,” Wheeler said. “You have a bad day every once in a while, I’m sure, right?”

Who doesn’t? The problem is Wheeler is the highest-paid pitcher in the sport this season, and he’s only around every fifth day. His bad days are magnified; that’s just how it is. Especially when the Phillies have a formula that requires them to win almost every time he, Cristopher Sánchez or Jesús Luzardo pitches.

Wheeler needed 34 pitches to survive the second inning. He hit 95 mph once all night. That’s what he has averaged on his fastball all season. He said he felt great Sunday when he played catch; it was his fifth (regular) day. “I wish I could have pitched yesterday,” Wheeler said. “That’s what I told some guys. Today it was the complete opposite.” Wheeler likes pitching on regular rest. But when possible, the Phillies have continued to seek the extra day for all of their pitchers because they are too important to this thing.

Philadelphia will do it again this week by deploying another bullpen game Friday that features some bulk innings from Brian Keller, a 32-year-old rookie.

The arms who followed Wheeler posted zeroes until Duran. But everyone’s velocity was down Monday night. The Phillies have leaned a considerable amount on their relievers. The bullpen games every fifth day have an increasing toll. The low-scoring offense has often put Mattingly in a position where he has to burn his better relievers to keep a game close. On Monday, he used all of his best guys and had nothing to show for it.

It was a particular sting.

The Phillies are not going to sell the farm in the next week, but they will trade some prospects. They are too invested in this. They have to feed this beast because it is all they have. There is no turning back, no matter how many red flags caution them otherwise.

Trea Turner made another error, his seventh in 10 games. He took one of the more uncompetitive at-bats of the season in the fifth inning by flailing at pitches far out of the zone. Brandon Marsh went hitless in five at-bats. Gabriel Rincones Jr. continues to look overmatched in the majors.

But Bryson Stott and Alec Bohm had big hits. So did Realmuto. Justin Crawford put them ahead with a two-out, two-strike single. The tired relievers did their jobs without their best velocities.

And Bryce Harper, who homered in the first inning, reached base three times in a game for the first time in three weeks.

“When Harp hits the homer to start the game, you’re like, ‘OK,’” Mattingly said. “And you got Wheels. You’re feeling pretty good. Obviously, that changed pretty quickly.”

Harper has been in a prolonged slump. Kyle Schwarber has three homers and 36 strikeouts in his last 23 games. Marsh is down to a .787 OPS. For so long, they powered the Phillies, along with the three-headed rotation.

They are showing some cracks. In baseball, it’s impossible for a select few to carry an entire roster over six months. The top-heavy Phillies have tested that theory and, in late July, they have discovered its limits. They need help. A trade, sure. But, more than anything, the stars require support.

“It was a weird game,” Realmuto said, “in that they got the two of our very best pitchers.”