Zack Wheeler continues to get the job done for the Philadelphia Phillies even as he gets a lot closer to the end of his baseball career than the beginning.
That includes an impressive outing for Wheeler on Tuesday night against the National League’s best team, the Milwaukee Brewers.
The Phillies won 6-4 over the Brewers as Wheeler went 5.2 innings while allowing five hits, a walk and three runs while striking out 11.
It was actually Wheeler’s “worst” outing in a while. He had allowed no runs in his last start, and in each of the three starts before that, Wheeler had allowed one run.
He has struck out a combined 40 batters in his last five starts.
Wheeler is 36 years old now, but that isn’t slowing him down. He’s got a 3.06 ERA in 27 outings this season.
It’s been a long time since he was a first-round pick in 2009 by the Giants, then a rising star with the Mets, but Wheeler remains one of baseball’s best pitchers when he’s on his game.
That also allowed him to make a fascinating bit of history on Tuesday night.
Zach Wheeler Makes History
There’s a cool baseball social media account called Pitchergami, which looks at five stats — innings, hits, walks, earned runs, strikeouts — to determine if a pitching outing has ever included the combination of the five before.
Wheeler’s combo on Tuesday had never been done before.
With 5.2 innings, 5 hits allowed, 3 earned runs allowed, 1 batter walked and 11 batters struck out, Wheeler stood alone in baseball history.
It’s not necessarily a glorious accomplishment but just a reminder of how fascinating baseball and its statistics can be.
šØ PITCHERGAMI šØ
Zack Wheeler just threw a line that has NEVER happened in MLB history:
5.2 IP | 5 H | 3 ER | 1 BB | 11 K
MIL @ PHI
That’s the 397th Pitchergami of 2026 and 1 of 83,622+ unique lines on record.ā Pitchergami (@pitchergami) September 23, 2026
Wheeler surely would’ve liked to give up a couple less runs, but the Phillies got the win, and that’s probably all he’ll be concerned about.
How Is This Possible?
Fans often question the validity of these Pitchergami posts, but when you think about the numbers, it actually makes sense.
There are so many possible permutations of those statistics, so even in a long history of baseball, there can still be new ones.
The keys to Wheeler’s line seem to be the innings and the strikeouts.
A pitcher having a good outing like Wheeler in most cases wouldn’t be pulled one out short of completing a full six innings.
It’s often not that common for a pitcher to have 11 strikeouts through just 5.2 innings.
Wheeler, with 101 pitches, was given the hook, though, and so he ends up with a line just a little bit different than all that had come before it in this sport’s long history.
Phillies’ Zack Wheeler Makes Never-Before-Seen Baseball History