It was the hardest-hit ball of the night, but the fly ball that San Diego’s Eric Hosmer rocketed Wednesday night at Citizens Bank Park hardly made it to the warning track. He held his bat outward after connecting with Zack Wheeler’s fastball in the seventh inning of the Phillies’ 3-0 win over the Padres and watched for a moment as the ball sailed toward right field with the look of a two-run homer.
But the 107.9 mph scorcher was just a loud out — one of the 21 outs Wheeler recorded in seven scoreless innings — as the Phillies seemed to benefit from baseballs that just don’t seem to be carrying this season like they did in recent seasons. Wheeler was excellent on Wednesday as he struck out nine, walked none, and allowed just four hits. The only trouble he seemed to face all night was the few seconds that Hosmer’s fly ball hung over South Philadelphia.
Major League Baseball told each team in spring training that it had modified the baseballs this season to deaden them after a surge in homers. The Phillies were frustrated by that earlier this season when the lineup they spent the winter building seemed to have trouble lifting the ball out of the park. But there were no complaints on Wednesday.
