Zack Wheeler’s first strikeout of the day came when he fired an up-and-in, 95 mph fastball, blowing it past Braves slugger Justin Upton in the first inning.
“You get a hitter like that, who’s a fastball hitter, missing pitches like that, it says something for the type of stuff he has,” catcher John Buck said. “If you can miss out over the plate with a fastball hitter looking for the fastball and you get him to miss, that’s God-given tools he doesn’t give everybody.”
Wheeler delivered at Citi Field, allowing four runs (three earned), striking out five and walking two over six innings in the Mets’ 7-4 victory Thursday.
So far in his rookie season, Wheeler is becoming the anti-Matt Harvey in terms of decisions — he has racked up four wins in seven starts, a combination of solid pitching and strong run support.
The 23-year-old right-hander is now 4-1 with a 3.72 ERA. The Mets, who are scoring an average of more than six runs per game for Wheeler, are 5-2 in his seven starts and 4-0 in his last four turns. They’re also an impressive 20-13 since he was promoted to the big leagues on June 18.
“It’s fun when you’re playing well,” Wheeler said. “We’ve got a good group of guys right now that are really mixing well.”
But, as manager Terry Collins pointed out, the surge is not entirely Wheeler’s doing. Part of it is Wheeler. Part of it is others who Collins mentioned, like Eric Young Jr., Marlon Byrd, Josh Satin, Carlos Torres. Certainly David Wright and Harvey, which goes without saying.
“There’s been a lot of changes. We have a lot of new faces,” Collins said. “I think it’s a combination of a lot of people that are here.”
Wheeler has racked up at least five strikeouts five times in his first seven games. There are only four other Mets to have done that — Harvey, Tom Seaver, Nolan Ryan and Dwight Gooden.
“I think there are a lot of similarities between maybe when Harvey came up last year and kind of where [Wheeler] is now,” Wright said.
Wheeler, however, wasn’t flawless. He has been inconsistent in his seven-start career, and he was high and low versus Atlanta, who he also faced in his major league debut. Wheeler logged 31 pitches in the first inning and flushed a 4-1 lead later when he served up Dan Uggla’s two-run homer in the fourth and Freddie Freeman’s solo blast in the fifth, tying it at 4-4.
Nevertheless, Wheeler allowed just four hits in six innings and permitted just seven men to reach base. He also threw an efficient 95 pitches.
“When he pounds the strike zone,” Collins said, “he gets outs.”
Added Wright: “When he throws the ball where he wants to, he gets great results. When he doesn’t throw the ball where he wants to, that’s when he gets into trouble.”
When Wheeler did get into trouble, he wasn’t rattled. He faced three situations where a Brave batted with a man in scoring position — he struck out the hitter each time. In his brief career, he’s holding batters to a ridiculous .114 average (4-for-35) with men in scoring position.
“It’s tough to rattle him,” Wright said.
mark.hale@nypost.com
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