PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — For the eighth time in a row, and the 26th time in the past 33 Major League Baseball All-Star Games, the American League beat the National League. Though the NL lost 5-2, there may be a bright spot this time around: A couple of Phillies on the team performed very well, at least, for the amount of time they were in the game.
Catcher J.T. Realmuto, who started the game in place of injured San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey, became the first Phillie to hit a home run in a midsummer classic since Hall of Fame third baseman Mike Schmidt did it in 1981.
Realmuto is now in a rather exclusive group of Phils to hit a home run in the All-Star game.
The 30-year-old catcher didn't, however, get to catch fellow Phil Zack Wheeler.
Because the 31-year-old Wheeler is one of the best pitchers in the NL so far this season, and because it was known Realmuto would be catching, there was speculation that Wheeler would be throwing to Realmuto at some point in the game. If that had happened, it would have been the first time since 2012 that two Phils had a battery tandem play with one another in the annual exhibition.
Instead, for reasons unknown as of Wednesday morning, Los Angeles Dodgers and NL team manager Dave Roberts didn't pitch Wheeler until two outs in the top of the 9th inning when the AL team had a runner on third base.
Wheeler got the NL team out of the jam with three pitches of 100 mph, 100 mph and 95 mph, striking out the Oakland Athletics' Matt Olson.
Although the meaning of this post isn't exactly clear, fellow Phillies starting pitcher Zach Eflin tweeted "The disrespect," shortly after Wheeler's strikeout. It's not a stretch to deduce that Eflin was responding to the way Roberts deployed Wheeler.
The Phillies Twitter account responded in agreement.