As if another late-game collapse wasn’t bad enough for the Phillies on Thursday night, now one of their best starting pitchers has a health issue that has forced the team to alter its pitching schedule.
Moments after the Phillies’ awful 7-6 loss to the Miami Marlins, manager Joe Girardi announced that Zack Wheeler would not make his scheduled start Saturday night against Miami.
Wheeler suffered some type of an injury to his right middle finger. Girardi said Wheeler suffered the injury when he caught his fingernail on something while putting on his pants sometime Wednesday.
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The injury is minor but will prevent Wheeler from staying on schedule in this important seven-game series. Girardi said he hoped Wheeler could recover in time to pitch Monday’s series finale. A final decision on that will be made in the coming days.
Girardi sounded exasperated when announcing Wheeler’s injury.
“You can’t make this up,” he said.
The Phils’ revised rotation for this series:
- Friday, Game 1 – Aaron Nola
- Friday, Game 2 – TBA
- Saturday – Spencer Howard
- Sunday, Game 1 – Vince Velasquez
- Sunday, Game 2 – Zach Eflin
- Monday – TBA