Zack Wheeler was cruising through five innings of Saturday’s must-win game six for the Phillies, but ran into some trouble in the bottom of the sixth when he hit Martin Maldonado with a pitch and allowed a single to eventual World Series MVP Jeremy Pena to put runners on the corners with one out.
Quickly, Rob Thomson, managing aggressively as he has all postseason, emerged from the dugout and called on lefty Jose Alvarado to face the lefty slugger Yordan Alvarez.
Three pitches into Alvarado’s night, Alvarez had his first home run since the ALDS, and the Astros had a 3-1 lead in an eventual 4-1 win.
Asked about it after the game, Thomson said he still liked how Wheeler looked, having thrown just 70 pitches, but went for the lefty-on-lefty matchup with the season on the line.
“I thought Wheels still had really good stuff,” Thomson said. “It wasn’t about that. I just thought the matchup was better with Alvarado on Alvarez at that time.”
Wheeler didn’t expect to be taken out, and admitted seeing Thomson come for the ball was a bit of a surprise.
“Win or go home right there,” Wheeler said. “It’s a tough pill to swallow, but it’s ultimately Thom’s call, and that’s the call he made.
“Honestly, it caught me off guard a little bit.”