Phillies waste splendid outing from ace Zack Wheeler as bats go cold in Game 1 loss to Mets

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Zack Wheeler touched 99 mph as he threw all 11 of his pitches for strikes in the first inning Saturday, the Philadelphia Phillies' ace offering a tantalizing peek at his dominant playoff outing ahead.

Wheeler kept wheeling and dealing from there in the NL Division Series opener and stuck it to his old team, the New York Mets — nine strikeouts and a whopping 30 swings-and-misses over 111 pitches in seven shutout innings.

It was a bit of pitching mastery for the two-time All-Star.

“You can’t make mistakes in the playoffs,” Wheeler said.

Wheeler sure didn't make many, lifted after he held the Mets to just one hit with Philadelphia clinging to a 1-0 lead.

But once he left, the wheels fell off for the Phillies.

Maybe it was the five-day layoff for the NL East champions, a spell of down time that also doomed a pair of 100-win Braves teams each of the last two seasons dumped by the Phillies in the Division Series.

Maybe the Mets are just riding the kind of late-season wave the Phillies enjoyed each of the last two years on their way to deep playoff runs.

Whatever the cause, the Phillies failed to solve Kodai Senga or the four Mets relievers who followed him, as they quieted the heart of Philadelphia's batting order. All-Star relievers Jeff Hoffman and Matt Strahm folded in the eighth inning — five runs allowed after three straight batters reached following 0-2 counts — and let the Mets escape Saturday with a 6-2 win in Game 1.

“It was stunning, it was, to see Hoffy and Strahmy give it up like that,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. “But that’s baseball sometimes. They haven’t done that since we’ve had them, really.”

Thomson also gave props to Wheeler, though.

The right-hander, who left the Mets in free agency following the 2019 season, forced 14 swings-and-misses over the first three innings and deftly escaped his only jam in the fourth when he got Jose Iglesias to ground into an inning-ending double play.

“He was pretty nasty,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “When you’re throwing 98 (mph) and locating the way he was locating, up at the top of the zone, you know, in and out, and then the sweeper, the split. I mean, unbelievable. He was pretty much unhittable today. And that’s who he is.”

Kyle Schwarber backed Wheeler with a leadoff homer, a Schwarbomb that lived up to its name when he socked Senga's third pitch into the second deck.

Schwarber, who hit 38 home runs in the regular season, including a record 15 leadoff homers, sent Phillies fans into a frenzy right away. Schwarber has 21 career playoff home runs in 66 games. That ranks fourth behind Manny Ramirez (29), Jose Altuve (27) and Bernie Williams (22).

Jimmy Rollins and Derek Jeter both had three career leadoff home runs during the playoffs.

From there, it was a dizzying repeat of the Phillies' anemic offensive collapse at home in Games 6 and 7 of the NL Championship Series last season against Arizona. Schwarber added a bloop single in the third inning but none of the next 19 Phillies got a hit.

All-Stars Trea Turner and Alec Bohm were each hitless in four at-bats. Bryce Harper walked twice and doubled, while Nick Castellanos was 1 for 4 with two strikeouts.

“As an offense, we wasted that start,” Harper said. “It's the same thing, man. Chasing balls in the dirt. Didn't work deep in the counts like we should have. We've got to understand what they're going to try to do to us and flip the switch as an offense.”

Philadelphia lost a Game 1 of any postseason series for the first time since the 2010 NLCS.

The Phillies won a Wild Card Series each of the last two seasons before they twice knocked out 100-win Atlanta teams in the NLDS. The Braves blamed a layoff as the root cause of their early exits, so the Phillies kept busy to avoid getting stale over five off days. The Phillies held an intrasquad scrimmage, took batting practice, had infield drills and pitchers' fielding drills as they tried to keep a routine as close to normal as it gets during the regular season.

Thomson didn't think the cold bats and ragged effort from the bullpen could be blamed on rust.

“I don’t think so. They pitched on Wednesday, and they threw the ball fairly well,” Thomson said. “I’d have to look at the tape. It’s probably about execution, and leaving some pitches in the middle of the zone.”

The Phillies have All-Star and new dad Cristopher Sánchez on the mound for Game 2.

“You can't harp on this one,” Harper said. “You've got to flush it, come back tomorrow. Sanchy on the bump, looking forward to that.”

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New York Mets' Pete Alonso follows the flight of the ball after hitting a run scoring sacrifice fly off Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Matt Strahm during the eighth inning of Game 1 of a baseball NL Division Series, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Philadelphia Phillies' Zack Wheeler pitches during the fifth inning of Game 1 of a baseball NL Division Series against the New York Mets, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Chris Szagola)

Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Zack Wheeler reacts after New York Mets' Jose Iglesias hit into a double play during the fourth inning of Game 1 of a baseball NL Division Series, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Zack Wheeler checks the runner at first during the seventh inning of Game 1 of a baseball NL Division Series against the New York Mets, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Philadelphia Phillies second base Bryson Stott catches a fly out hit by New York Mets' Jose Iglesias during the seventh inning of Game 1 of a baseball NL Division Series, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Chris Szagola)

Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Zack Wheeler acknowledges fans after the seventh inning of Game 1 of a baseball NL Division Series against the New York Mets, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Chris Szagola)

Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Matt Strahm walks to the dugout after being released during the eighth inning of Game 1 of a baseball NL Division Series against the New York Mets, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Matt Strahm is released during the eighth inning of Game 1 of a baseball NL Division Series against the New York Mets, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Philadelphia Phillies first base Bryce Harper rests during a pitching change during the eighth inning of Game 1 of a baseball NL Division Series against the New York Mets, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Philadelphia Phillies' Bryce Harper, second right, looks on from the dugout with teammates during the ninth inning of Game 1 of a baseball NL Division Series against the New York Mets, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Chris Szagola)

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis is installing 21 new cardinals, many of whom are key figures in his reform agenda: A Dominican preacher who acted as the spiritual father for Francis' recent gathering of bishops, a Neapolitan “street priest” like himself, and a Peruvian bishop who has strongly backed his crackdown on abuse.

Francis’ 10th consistory to create new princes of the church is also the biggest infusion of voting-age cardinals in his 11-year pontificate, further cementing his imprint on the group of men who will one day elect his successor. With Saturday's additions, Francis will have created 110 of the 140 cardinals under 80, thus eligible to vote in a conclave.

This consistory also brings the number of voting-age cardinals well over the 120-man limit set by St. John Paul II. But 13 existing cardinals will turn 80 next year, bringing the numbers back down.

This consistory is notable too because the 21 men being elevated aren’t the same ones Francis named Oct. 6 when he announced an unusual December consistory.

One of Francis’ original picks, Indonesian Bishop Paskalis Bruno Syukur, the bishop of Bogor, asked not to be made a cardinal “because of his desire to grow more in his life as a priest,” the Vatican said. Francis quickly substituted him with the Naples archbishop, Domenico Battaglia, known for his pastoral work in the slums and rough parts of Naples.

Battaglia is one of five Italians getting the red hat, keeping the once-dominant Italian presence in the College of Cardinals strong. Turin is getting a cardinal in its archbishop, Roberto Repole, as is Rome: Baldassare Reina, who on the same day Francis announced he was becoming a cardinal also learned that Francis had promoted him to be his top administrator for the diocese of Rome.

Francis, who is technically bishop of Rome, has been conducting a years-long reorganization of the Rome diocese and its pontifical universities. Reina – who is also grand chancellor of the pre-eminent Pontifical Lateran University – will be expected to execute the reform.

Another Italian is the oldest cardinal: Angelo Acerbi, a 99-year-old retired Vatican diplomat. He is the only one among the 21 new cardinals to be older than 80 and thus ineligible to vote in a conclave. Francis' picks on Saturday also include the youngest cardinal: the 44-year-old head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in Melbourne, Australia, Mykola Bychok.

Yet another Italian is one of two Vatican priests who do jobs in the Holy See that don’t usually carry the red hat: Fabio Baggio is undersecretary in the Vatican development office. Francis also decided to make a cardinal out of George Jacob Koovakad, the priest who organizes the pope’s foreign travels.

Other picks have high-profile roles in Francis’ reforms.

The archbishop of Lima, Peru, Carlos Gustavo Castillo Mattasoglio, made headlines recently because of an extraordinary essay he penned for El Pais newspaper in which he called for the suppression of an influential Peruvian Catholic movement, the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, which also has a presence in the U.S.

Castillo called the group a “failed experiment” of the church in Latin America, one of several conservative, right-wing movements that cropped up in the 1970s and 1980s as a counterweight to the more left-leaning liberation theology.

“My hypothesis is that the Sodalitium obeys a political project,” Castillo wrote. “It is the resurrection of fascism in Latin America, artfully using the church by means of sectarian methods.”

Francis has recently expelled the Sodalitium's founder and several top members following a Vatican investigation.

Castillo is one of five new Latin American cardinals named by history’s first Latin American pope. They include the archbishop of Santiago del Estero, Argentina, Vicente Bokalic Iglic; the archbishop of Porto Alegre, Brazil, Jaime Spengler; the archbishop of Santiago, Chile, Fernando Natalio Chomali Garib and the archbishop of Guayaquil, Ecuador, Luis Gerardo Cabrera Herrera.

Francis has long sought to broaden the geographic diversity of the College of Cardinals to show the universality of the church, particularly where it is growing. Asia got two new cardinals: Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi, the archbishop of Tokyo; and Pablo Virgilio Sinogco David, the bishop of Kalookan, Philippines. Africa also got two new cardinals: the archbishop of Abidjan, Ivory Coast, Ignace Bessi Dogbo, and the bishop of Algiers, Algeria, Jean-Paul Vesco.

“There hasn’t been an African pope, but it’s a possibility in the church," Dogbo said in an interview on the eve of his installation. "And I think that this eventuality — which is not necessarily a demand — if this eventuality were to arise, the universal church would have to be ready to take it on.”

Francis also tapped the archbishop of Tehran, Iran, Dominique Joseph Mathieu, the bishop of Belgrade, Serbia, Ladislav Nemet, while the lone North American cardinal named is the archbishop of Toronto, Frank Leo.

The Lithuanian-born cardinal-elect, Rolandas Makrickas, has a special job in this pontificate: As the archpriest of the St. Mary Major basilica, he hosts Francis every time the pope returns from a foreign trip, since the pope likes to pray before an icon of the Madonna in the church. Additionally, Makrickas oversaw a recent financial reform of the basilica and would have been involved in identifying the future final resting place for Francis, since the Argentine pope has said he will be buried there.

Perhaps the most familiar new cardinal to anyone who has been following Francis’ reform agenda is the Dominican Timothy Radcliff, the spiritual father of the just-concluded synod, or gathering of bishops. The years-long process aimed to make the church more inclusive and responsive to the needs of rank-and-file Catholics, especially women.

A British theologian, the white-robed Radcliffe often provided clarifying, if not humorous interventions during the weeks-long debate and retreats. At one point he set off a mini-firestorm by suggesting that external financial pressures influenced African bishops to reject Francis' permission to allow blessings for gay couples. He later said he just meant that the African Catholic Church is under pressure from other well-financed faiths.

As the synod was winding down, he offered some valuable perspective.

“Often we can have no idea as to how God’s providence is at work in our lives. We do what we believe to be right and the rest is in the hands of the Lord,” he told the gathering. “This is just one synod. There will be others. We do not have to do everything, just try to take the next step.”

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

Newly appointed cardinal Vicente Bokalic Iglic, archbishop of Santiago del Estero, Argentina meets journalists in the Vatican press room ahead of his elevation, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Newly appointed cardinal Mykola Bychok, head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in Melbourne, Australia, poses as he meets journalists in the Vatican press room ahead of his elevation, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Newly appointed cardinal Mykola Bychok, head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in Melbourne, Australia, poses as he meets journalists in the Vatican press room ahead of his elevation, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Newly appointed cardinal P. Timothy Peter Joseph Radcliffe, British theologian spiritual father of the just-concluded synod meets journalists in the Vatican press room ahead of his elevation, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Newly appointed cardinal Ignace Bessi Dogbo archbishop of Abidjan, Ivory Coast, meets journalists in the Vatican press room ahead of his elevation, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Newly appointed cardinal P. Timothy Peter Joseph Radcliffe, British theologian spiritual father of the just-concluded synod poses as he meets journalists in the Vatican press room ahead of his elevation, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Newly appointed cardinal P. Timothy Peter Joseph Radcliffe, British theologian spiritual father of the just-concluded synod poses for photos as he meets journalists in the Vatican press room ahead of his elevation, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Newly appointed cardinal Vicente Bokalic Iglic, archbishop of Santiago del Estero, Argentina poses as he meets journalists in the Vatican press room ahead of his elevation, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Newly appointed cardinal Rolandas Makrickas Lithuanian-born archpriest of the St. Mary Major basilica poses as he meets journalists in the Vatican press room ahead of his elevation, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Newly appointed cardinal Mykola Bychok, head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in Melbourne, Australia, poses as he meets journalists in the Vatican press room ahead of his elevation, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Newly appointed cardinal Ignace Bessi Dogbo archbishop of Abidjan, Ivory Coast meets journalists in the Vatican press room ahead of his elevation, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Newly appointed cardinal P. Timothy Peter Joseph Radcliffe, British theologian spiritual father of the just-concluded synod poses as he meets journalists in the Vatican press room ahead of his elevation, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)