Braves pounce on bullpen to spoil opener for Zack Wheeler, Phillies

PHILADELPHIA — It began, as only it could, with Charlie Manuel standing tall 20 feet from home plate and lobbing in the ceremonial first pitch six months after a stroke left him in critical condition.

Could you feel the goose bumps beneath the layers of clothing?

But it wouldn’t be baseball season in Philadelphia without criticisms of the manager’s handling of a game. Even Manuel, the most beloved skipper in Phillies history, was far from immune when he was in charge.

So, after the bullpen melted down for nine runs Friday in a 9-3 opening-day thumping by the archrival Braves — after starter Zack Wheeler authored six scoreless innings — Rob Thomson was sure to be on the receiving end of criticism.

To be fair, Wheeler threw 89 pitches, so this was hardly a Gabe Kapler-Aaron Nola situation, circa 2018. In a week or two, the Phillies will send their ace back out for the seventh inning, especially with a two-run lead.

And Thomson has a bullpen that he should be able to trust. Pin this one, then, on Matt Strahm, who gave up two runs in the seventh inning, and relief ace José Alvarado, who gave up five in the eighth to send a sellout crowd of 44,452 to the exits early from the 20th opener at Citizens Bank Park.

Oh, and did we mention the Phillies’ vaunted offense struck out 15 times — count ‘em, 15! — against Braves starter Spencer Strider and four relievers.

The Braves, kings of the regular season in the NL East, evened the game against Strahm on a two-run double inside the left-field line by Adam Duvall, then blew it open against Alvarado. They scored seven runs in the eighth inning, with Alvarado facing seven batters and retiring only two.

Michael Harris II broke a 2-2 stalemate with a one-out RBI single up the middle. And after Alvarado walked Travis d’Arnaud and Duvall to load the bases, Ronald Acuña Jr. stroked a single to left field to make it 4-2.

From there, the floodgates opened against reliever Connor Brogdon, who uncorked a wild pitch, walked two batters, and gave up a three-run double to Matt Olson, who started the whole thing with a leadoff double against Alvarado.

Relief? That only came when Brogdon left the game.

On a brutal day for hitters — the wind blew in from left field at 17 mph at game time — Wheeler and Strider dueled for five innings, as you would expect them to in seven months in Game 1 of a playoff series.

Strider led with his heater, per usual, cranking it up to 99 mph in the first inning against Bryce Harper. Wheeler mixed his pitches like a NutriBullet, even breaking out his new splitter 10 times, including one for a strikeout of Acuña.

The Phillies’ offense, which struggled for much of spring training, didn’t do much against Strider or the Braves’ bullpen. Brandon Marsh’s two-run homer accounted for the scoring, while the top four batters in the lineup — Kyle Schwarber, Trea Turner, Harper, and J.T. Realmuto — went 0 for 14 with seven strikeouts.