MIAMI — Zack Wheeler was happy he pitched six shutout innings Wednesday, but wishes he could have rediscovered his missing slider.
“My slider was terrible — it hasn’t been good the last few starts,” Wheeler said after the Mets’ 1-0 loss to the Marlins. “I think I’m on the side of the ball, so it’s bigger than I want it to be and I don’t have that good command of it.”
It didn’t stop the right-hander from limiting the Marlins to two hits, but the five walks he issued were a concern. Largely because of the walks, manager Terry Collins had to remove Wheeler at 104 pitches after six innings.
Three of Wheeler’s walks came in the sixth inning, but Giancarlo Stanton hit into a double play to keep the Marlins from scoring.
“Today was a good overall day for me, except for the walks, they killed me,” Wheeler said. “I had a good pitch count going and then I started with walks.”
Hitting coach Dave Hudgens indicated the team’s pitchers will begin taking more batting practice. Mets pitchers are 0-for-58 in 2014, which is the longest such drought to begin a season since 1900.
“We’ve got three guys that are pretty good hitters,” Hudgens said, referring to Dillon Gee, Jon Niese and Wheeler. “The other two guys [Bartolo Colon and Jenrry Mejia] haven’t swung the bats very much throughout their careers, so that makes it a little more difficult.
“That is one thing we definitely need to improve a little bit on, otherwise we’re always playing with eight hitters.”
Reliever Scott Rice was unavailable because of back soreness and indicated he might be examined by doctors in New York. The lefty indicated he experienced similar discomfort in spring training and adjusted his workouts in the weight room to help alleviate the problem.
Jeurys Familia pitched a perfect seventh inning for the Mets in a scoreless game. The right-hander has allowed only one run over his last six outings.
Josh Satin is 0-for-7 as a pinch-hitter this season after striking out to end the eighth inning. Overall, Satin is batting just .130 with three RBIs.
Additional reporting by Zach Braziller