‘You gotta throw a no-hitter now’: Inside the Phillies starters’ lighthearted, friendly competition

CINCINNATI — A few days ago, Zack Wheeler and Spencer Turnbull were sitting in the Phillies clubhouse when they saw Aaron Nola walk into the room. Wheeler had just taken a no-hitter into the eighth inning, and Turnbull had taken a no-hitter into the seventh inning the day before.

“We were like, ‘All right Noles, you gotta throw a no-hitter now,’” Wheeler said. “‘We got pretty far but now you gotta finish it.’”

Everyone got a good laugh, but joking aside, what the Phillies starters are doing lately has had a sort of domino effect. They’ve combined for a 0.70 ERA over their past seven games with 53 strikeouts to just nine walks. They’ve held opposing hitters to a .372 OPS.

It won’t last forever, but it has set a new bar: This is what the rotation is capable of.

» READ MORE: Phillies starting rotation feeding off each others’ success: ‘You get better watching them’

“They always say hitting is contagious,” said Turnbull, the only member of the staff who actually has thrown a no-hitter, with Detroit in 2021. “Why can’t pitching be contagious? It’s the same way. If hitting is contagious, pitching is contagious. It’s like, ‘If he can do it, so can I.’ Next guy up, next guy up. I think it just brings out the best in everyone.”

Wheeler agrees. When he first got to Philadelphia in 2020, he would watch Nola use his front-door two-seamer in games. It was a good weapon against lefties, one that Wheeler wanted to incorporate into his own game.

“He and [Zach] Eflin did it a lot and were successful with it, and I was like, ‘Man, I wish I could do that,’” Wheeler said. “I’d watch it in games and see the reactions of hitters and he’d get them to freeze. And that’s what I wanted.

“I just wanted to try it, because I have a harder time with lefties than righties. So, it’s one more thing that I can mix in there, and J.T. [Realmuto] isn’t afraid to call it for me. Picking things up from guys here and there always helps.

“But at the end of the day, you always try to do better than the guy before. You go out there and watch the game. … If the guy before you strikes out 10, you try to strike out 11. It’s a competition and you want to be the best, and it’s fun.”

Turnbull, who has a 1.23 ERA over his four starts, likes to keep it more light. He has a tendency to overthink, so cracking jokes about the rotation, rather than taking it too seriously, is helpful for him.

“We’ll say things like, ‘All right, you’re going to take a no-hitter into the seventh, well I’m going to take one into the eighth,’” Turnbull said. “’All right Nola, your turn, you gotta take it in the ninth.’

“And then Ranger [Suárez] is over there and he’s like, ‘I don’t even care. Give me the ball. I’ll throw a [complete game] in 60 pitches if I have to.’ It’s ridiculous.”

Wheeler is hopeful that when tougher times do come, that the rotation can use this stretch as a new goal to strive for.

“We’re on a good roll right now,” he said. “Eventually, we’re going to get hit a little bit, it’s hard to sustain a 0.70 ERA. We know we’re going to have ups and downs, but you just have to stay true to who you are and trust the process. And know what you have in you, and know what you’re capable of. And try to get back to that when that down time is happening. But right now, we’re riding it.”

» READ MORE: Phillies in motion to welcome Taijuan Walker back ahead of San Diego series

Taijuan Walker was originally supposed to throw a bullpen session on Wednesday, but he threw one on Tuesday instead. It went well. Manager Rob Thomson said that Walker, who has been on the injured list since the start of the season with right shoulder soreness, will make his first start Sunday in San Diego.