Zack Wheeler expected to be pitching in a playoff chase this month. As of two weeks ago, that meant his bags were packed — a recommendation from General Manager Brodie Van Wagenen as the trade deadline neared, rumors swirled and the Mets trailed 12 teams in the National League standings.
The right-hander was going to land with whichever contender wanted him most. Improbably, that turned out to be the Mets.
Wheeler ground up Miami over eight innings on Tuesday, Wilson Ramos and Pete Alonso homered, and the Mets beat the Marlins, 5-0, for their 12th win in 13 games, including five of six since the deadline. The hard-charging Mets improved to 58-56 a night after surpassing the .500 mark for the first time since early May.
“We know how good we can be and how good we are,” Wheeler said. “We’re shooting for it.”
New York has the best record in baseball since the All-Star break and entered the day two and a half games behind Philadelphia for an N.L. wild card despite looking like a surefire seller in late July — two weeks ago, the Mets trailed every N.L. team except the Marlins and Pirates.
Wheeler (9-6) remained in Flushing to aid an unlikely postseason hunt. After throwing seven scoreless innings against the White Sox a day after the deadline, he cruised through eight on 99 pitches against the Marlins, allowing eight hits and striking out five with 13 ground-ball outs.
“That’s the goal every time is to get ground balls and get easier outs,” Wheeler said. “I was able to get inside on them tonight and work there.”
Mets Manager Mickey Callaway said the whole club got a “huge jolt” when the deadline passed and Wheeler was still there.
“Hearing all the rumors and stuff like that, it’s kind of, you don’t necessarily take it to heart because it’s not true until it happens,” Alonso said. “But the fact he wasn’t traded is big.”
Todd Frazier had an R.B.I. double off the glove of left fielder Jon Berti in the first inning, the sixth straight game the Mets scored in the first.
“That’s how you get on a roll,” Callaway said. “Especially when you have the starters that we have.”
Ramos hit a three-run homer in the third, and Alonso hit a solo shot in the fifth, his 36th of the season and second in two games.
Wheeler had two runners on with one out in the sixth and seventh innings but escaped both jams. He ended the sixth with consecutive strikeouts and got out of the seventh with another punchout and by breaking pinch-hitter Harold Ramirez’s bat on a soft lineout.
After Wheeler stranded another runner in the eighth, Robert Gsellman pitched the ninth.
The Mets will try to complete a four-game sweep of the Marlins on Wednesday with a mostly fresh bullpen. The lefty Steven Matz (6-7, 4.60) faces Jordan Yamamoto (4-2, 3.94).
Miami right-hander Héctor Noesí (0-1) allowed five runs over five innings in his first major-league appearance since 2015.
Noesí spent the previous three seasons in Korea, including a 20-win year in 2017, and returned to the United States this season on a minor-league deal with Miami. The 32-year-old right-hander ranked among the Pacific Coast League leaders in wins, earned run average and strikeouts before being called up Tuesday.
“I feel really emotional,” Noesí said. “There’s not that many players that go overseas and come back to the big leagues, and I know it’s been a long time, too.”
Noesí singled in his first at-bat for his third career hit and first since 2012.