PHILADELPHIA — The Phillies did not batter Matt Waldron.
They just sort of ran him ragged, and his outing unraveled, as it can when knuckleballs are flittering in and out of the strike zone, off the catcher’s glove, occasionally bouncing far from the plate.
In Waldron’s first start of the season, he allowed all of the Phillies’ runs in 4⅔ innings in what ended up a 4-0 loss for the Padres on Monday night at Citizens Bank Park.
If Waldron wasn’t battered, then Phillies starter Zack Wheeler was hardly bothered.
The right-hander struck out 10 while spreading six hits over eight innings, and the Padres suffered their first shutout since the last day of June after Tanner Banks set them down in the ninth.
It rarely takes many runs to the beat the Padres lately.
On this night, they were at least facing a guy who has finished as the runner up in National League Cy Young voting two of the past four seasons. Wheeler took a 2.45 ERA and 0.92 WHIP into Monday and during the game took over the NL strikeout lead.
“That was as good of pitching as I’ve seen all year,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said. “… A lot of life. A lot of life. Secondary pitches in properly for effect. He moved guys a little bit, made pitches (to) both sides. Him and (catcher J.T.) Realmuto are obviously on the same page. I thought he was fantastic.”
Waldron allowed six hits and walked a career-high six, and he was stung by two stolen bases and a wild pitch in one of the five innings he began.
After a walk, a single and a fielder’s choice grounder put the Phillies up 1-0 in the second inning, Waldron walked two more with two outs in the third before Jackson Merrill’s leaping catch above the wall on a drive to straightaway center field by Max Kepler saved three runs.
The Phillies got two runs in the next inning without hitting a ball of consequence out of the infield.
Bryson Stott drew a one-out walk, stole second and scored from there on Brandon Marsh’s single to first baseman Luis Arraez. The grounder by Marsh was slow, and Arraez was playing deep on the dirt, and Waldron got a late start toward first base. Stott, who slowed down just a bit as he rounded third, took off for home as Arraez let go of his underhand toss to Waldron, and he slid in just ahead of the tag by catcher Martín Maldonado after a throw home by Waldron.
Marsh stole second two pitches later, went to third on a wild pitch and scored on Trea Turner’s infield single — a chopper to third base that Manny Machado simply had to hold.
After walking Kyle Schwarber, Waldron got out of the inning thanks to another fine defensive play — Arraez diving toward the bag to catch a line drive by Bryce Harper and then touching the bag to double up Turner.
“Especially the third inning, got away from me a little bit in terms of just my delivery and not landing strikes,” Waldron said. “And I paid for it in that inning.”
The Padres in their current offensive state being down 3-0 against Wheeler made it feel like the end of the game was a formality. The Padres have scored four runs or more in not even half their games (13 of 30) over the past month.
They did have the tying run at the plate with one out in the fourth when Xander Bogaerts singled and Jake Cronenworth walked, bringing up the bottom two hitters in their order coming up.
Wheeler struck out No. 8 hitter Bryce Johnson, who squared to bunt on a pitch far inside and then fouled off a bunt attempt before swinging away. Shildt then had Trenton Brooks pinch-hit for Maldonado. Brooks lined a ball at 101 mph right at Stott. The Phillies’ second baseman caught the ball and threw to shortstop Trea Turner to double up Bogaerts at second.
“Brooksie comes in and barrels one up,” Shildt said. “Finds some grass, and it’s a different ballgame.”
Instead, a one-out home run by Nick Castellanos made it 4-0, and Waldron was replaced by Wandy Peralta after yielding a two-out single. After Peralta finished the sixth, David Morgan worked the final two innings.
The Padres’ seven hits, including three by Bogaerts, were one more than the Phillies had.
“I thought we strung together some really pretty good at-bats, quite frankly,” Shildt said. “We scratched and clawed.”
The Phillies were better at it. And they got some help from Waldron, who threw 77 knuckleballs among his 104 pitches.
“I can’t just limit damage and then walk everybody,” said Waldron, who was starting in place of the injured Ryan Bergert. “… Very frustrating. I felt like I somewhat gave us a chance to win. But at the end of the day, it’s a tough game, and I can’t give up that many (walks). That’s not good enough.”
Originally Published: June 30, 2025 at 6:03 PM PDT