ANAHEIM, Calif. — Zack Wheeler lacked his typical control of secondary pitches, so he had to lean on his fastball. He gave up an unusually high number of foul balls and fell into deep counts.

Oh, and in the second inning, the earth shook beneath his feet.

But it’s days like Wednesday, when the stuff isn’t as sharp, that test an ace’s mettle. For a second start in a row, Wheeler overcame command issues, grinding through five innings in the Phillies’ 2-1 victory over the Los Angeles Angels to secure another winning series and complete a 7-3 road trip.

Never mind that every player in the lineup struck out at least once (Nick Castellanos did so four times) en route to 18, the Phillies’ highest total in a nine-inning game since May 6, 2018 at Washington. Or that Gregory Soto walked a ninth-inning tightrope, with the tying and winning runs in scoring position as Tyler Ward drove a deep fly ball that Kyle Schwarber caught at the left-field wall.

The Phillies have won 13 of 16 games — and 19 of 26 since opening the season 2-4.

It was an earthquake — 4.1 magnitude, according to the U.S. Geological Survey — that caused minor tremors at Angel Stadium. But the Phillies’ train continues to steam ahead in what’s shaping up to be a summer long race with the Atlanta Braves for the division crown.

The Phillies’ best start since 2011 is built on starting pitching. Wheeler leads a rotation that has a 2.52 ERA after he yielded one run to the Angels on five hits.

It wasn’t easy, though. Wheeler threw at least six pitches to 10 of 22 batters. The Angels, playing without injured Mike Trout, fouled off 25 of his 106 pitches. Wheeler’s pitch count by inning: 27, 22, 25, 14, and 18.

After giving up a leadoff double to Nolan Schanuel in the fifth inning, Wheeler kicked at the mound. After retiring the next three batters to strand Schanuel at third base, he begrudgingly shook manager Rob Thomson’s extended hand.

In his previous start, last week in Cincinnati, Wheeler held the Reds to one hit in six scoreless innings. But he wasn’t pleased with his command after walking four batters and pledged to “get it cleaned up.”

“He’s a perfectionist,” Thomson said before Wheeler faced the Angels. “He really is. He wants to have a [complete game] every time he runs out there, and he knows that you’ve got to eliminate walks to go deep into games.”

Wheeler walked only one batter, but the deep counts forced the bullpen to get 12 outs. Matt Strahm, Orion Kerkering and José Alvarado passed the baton before Soto came on for a cuticle-chomping ninth.

Soto gave up back-to-back one-out singles to Zach Neto and Schanuel before striking out Jo Adell. Ward skied a deep drive that sent Schwarber all the way back to the wall before he hauled it in.

The Phillies jumped to early leads in each game of the series: 3-0 in the first inning Monday night, 3-0 in the second Tuesday night, and 2-0 in the second inning of the finale.

Each time, Schwarber factored into the rally.

Schwarber led off the series opener with a single and scored on Alec Bohm’s two-run single. One night later, he smashed a three-run homer against Angels lefty Tyler Anderson.

This time, Schwarber worked the count full with two out against another lefty, Patrick Sandoval, before scorching a 108-mph grounder up the middle. Neto, the Angels’ shortstop, ranged to his left but overran the ball. As he dove back, the ball hit off his glove and went into center field for a two-run single.

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