Phillies hit Javier hard, Wheeler follows Nola's gem with one of his own

HOUSTON -- The last time Cristian Javier faced the Phillies, he no-hit them for six innings.

This time, he allowed more extra-base hits than ever before.

The Phils jumped on Javier in the fourth inning Saturday afternoon and beat the Astros, 6-1, to win their fourth straight series. They've won 10 of 13 overall and guaranteed themselves a winning April, improving to 15-13 with one day left in the month.

"We're playing good baseball in all phases, really," manager Rob Thomson said. "Getting good starting pitching the last few days, our bullpen's been really good for a while now and we're getting timely hits."

Nick Castellanos stayed hot with a solo home run, the first of five consecutive hard-hit balls by the Phillies in the fourth inning. Javier threw Castellanos three straight sliders in the at-bat. The third one stayed inside on Castellanos' hands but the Phillies' surging right fielder was able to launch it just below the train tracks in left field for a loud bomb. Castellanos struggled mightily with sliders last season -- particularly low-and-away -- but is slugging .640 on them in 2023.

"I didn't work at (hitting sliders) at all in the offseason, honestly," Castellanos said. "But I just think I'm in a more relaxed place in my life and when I'm more relaxed, I'm a better baseball player."

Brandon Marsh followed with a double and scored on a sacrifice fly by J.T. Realmuto, who later doubled and is hitting .354 over his last 13 games with six extra-base hits and four stolen bases.

Jake Cave doubled twice, legging out the first one and crushing the second. Alec Bohm also doubled off of Javier, who had never allowed more than four extra-base hits in a game. He gave up six to the Phils.

Kody Clemens provided insurance with a two-run homer to the second deck in right field off of reliever Phil Maton in the sixth inning, two innings after lacing a ball to center that was caught. Clemens began the season 1 for 16 but has homered twice in his last three starts and driven in a run in all three. Saturday's homer in his native Houston came with his pops, Roger Clemens, in attendance.

"That's got to be a great feeling, you're Roger Clemens' son and you come into Houston and hit a home run," Thomson said. "It's pretty neat."

The Phillies had eight extra-base hits, the MLB-leading third time they've done so this season. There are 16 teams without any.

Zack Wheeler started for the Phillies and looked like himself, missing bats and keeping the ball on the ground. He pitched six scoreless innings and struck out seven. Thomson came out to visit him with two outs in the sixth, a man on base and dangerous lefty Kyle Tucker due up. Wheeler was at 100 pitches and Gregory Soto was ready to go in the bullpen but Thomson kept him in, and Wheeler made the decision stand up by striking Tucker out on a high heater.

It wasn't so long ago Thomson faced a similar choice with Wheeler on this very mound.

"The velocity and the life to his fastball were as good as I've seen this year," Thomson said. "His pitch count was up there pretty good there, so I just wanted to make sure he was OK," Thomson said.

The Phillies continued to tack on runs at the end of the game and built a six-run lead that enabled them to rest Soto, Jose Alvarado and Craig Kimbrel. Seranthony Dominguez pitched the seventh, Andrew Vasquez had the eighth and Yunior Marte pitched the ninth.

Wheeler and Aaron Nola both spun gems in Houston this weekend, allowing one run over 14 innings, a big development for the Phillies after the top two arms in their rotation were up and down in their first five starts.

"It's great," Thomson said. "I think they're getting settled into the season now. Short offseason, long postseason last year. I don't know whether that has anything to do with it or not but it looks like they're rounding into form."

There was drama midway through the game when Wheeler hit Astros catcher Martin Maldonado, the No. 9 hitter, in the backside with two outs and nobody on in the bottom of the fifth. Maldonado was upset and gestured to Wheeler, obviously thinking it was intentional. The benches began to clear but the situation was diffused.

Wheeler was cagey postgame. He and Maldonado have a bit of history. In Game 6 of the 2022 World Series, Wheeler had pitched five scoreless innings before hitting Maldonado with a sinker in the right elbow to begin the sixth. Maldonado was standing as close to home plate as is physically allowed, but after an umpire conference, it was determined that he did not lean into the pitch. What he did was closer to what Chase Utley used to do -- crowd the plate and make little effort to move out of the way in an attempt to get on base.

Wheeler carries himself with an edge on and off the mound. He surely hadn't forgotten that plate appearance from six months ago.

"I'm assuming it's because of what happened last year," he said. "I don't know, it is what it is. I'm not him. Whether he thought I did it on purpose or not, it's up to him how he reacts to it. The only reason we started talking to each other is because I saw his mouth moving and him looking at me. I just said, 'What's up, you're just looking at me talking.' That was it. It was squashed after that."

Maldonado was hit a second time by Dominguez in the seventh inning, though it looked like the pitch just got away. Either way, it would not be surprising to see the Astros return fire in the series finale.

The Phillies look for the improbable sweep in Houston on Sunday Night Baseball. Bailey Falter (0-4, 4.50) faces Jose Urquidy (1-2, 5.64), a finesse right-hander who is the worst of Houston's five starting pitchers.

"I think that we're discovering ourselves as a team and everybody's getting settled in. So far, so good, man," Castellanos said. "Let's take care of tomorrow."