The Phillies extend the winning streak to 9 games after Zack Wheeler

The Phillies had two kinds of momentum on their side Saturday.

Numero uno was, of course, the eight-game winning streak that they led into the middle competition in a three-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Numero dos was the man on the pitcher’s hill.

Zack Wheeler continued his latest streak of dominance by leading the habanero-hot Phillies to a 4-0 victory over the Diamondbacks.

The win was the Phillies’ ninth in a row, and matched their longest since the 2011 team won nine just on its way to a club record of 102 wins. (The team record for most wins in a row is 13, most recently achieved in 1991.)

Saturday’s victory improved manager Rob Thomson to 8-0 since taking over Joe Girardi when the team was 22-29. With 30-29, the Phils are over .500 for the first time since the season was five days old and they were 3-2.

What a great trip this has been with lots of wins, lots of power – Phils has hit 22 homers during the nine match winning streak – and lots of good starting pitching.

“Everything is running pretty well,” Thomson said. “We just have to keep going.

“We reached .500. Now shoot for five over. When we get there, shoot for 10 over.”

Wheeler got an early run on a first-inning double by Rhys Hoskins and an RBI single by Nick Castellanos.

An inning later, rookie Bryson Stott hit his fourth home run in the last eight games, a two-run shot to the right, to give the Phils a 3-0 lead.

Wheeler and the bullpen made it stand up.

“He came in front, his stuff was good, he was Zack,” Thomson said of Wheeler, who came into the game with a 1.61 ERA in his previous seven starts.

The right-hander continued his dominance with six shutout innings. He gave up two strokes, went no one, knocked eight out and broke a bunch of bats. All in all, just another good day for Wheeler, who did not accompany the team to Milwaukee during the week when he and his wife, Dominique, welcomed a daughter, Bambi.

Back in Philadelphia with his family, Wheeler said he was fascinated by his teammates and their winning streak.

“I was just hoping it would come back to me and I could continue it,” he said. “We were capable of that.”

During his last eight starts, Wheeler has given up only eight earned runs in 51⅔ innings for an ERA of 1.39. He has recorded 64 strikeouts and went only 11 over that span.

In seven starts at Citizens Bank Park this season, Wheeler has given up seven earned runs in 42⅓ innings for a 1.49 ERA.

He runs on a 34-inning scoreless streak at home.

Wheeler went out on 98 yards after six innings and the bullpen protected the lead. Right-hander Andrew Bellatti got the most out of the game after the Diamondbacks filled the bases with three two-out singles against Jeury’s Familia.

With tension rising and a big winning streak on the line, Bellatti came in and retired switch-hitter Ketel Marte on a ball to midfield to end the threat.

“It was a pretty intense situation and I enjoyed it,” Bellatti said.

Seranthony Dominguez was unavailable after pitching two days in a row, so Thomson went to Bellatti.

“That’s what you need to do,” Thomson said. “It’s the next man when someone’s down and he did it, got a big out.”

Brad Hand hit a pointless eighth inning and Cristopher Sanchez got the final three outs after the Phils pressed the lead to 4-0 and Corey Knebel came down with a stiff shoulder while warming up in the bullpen.

Thomson is just the second Phillies manager to start his career 8-0, joining Pat Moran from 1915 NL champion Phils. He is the first manager in the major leagues to start a career with eight wins in a row since Joe Morgan of the 1988 Red Sox. Morgan succeeded John McNamara in the middle of the season and won his first 12 games.

In Boston, they called it the Morgan Magic.

Torrid Thomson makes all the right calls. Bellatti made him look good in the seventh. And Matt Vierling made six plays (and caught a pop-up) in his first ever (and we mean ever) play on second base.

“The ball will find you,” joked Vierling after the match. “I kind of figured it would hit me a lot.”

Nervous?

“Yes, but it went away a bit after the first one – then they kept coming,” he said.

The Phils go after a third series in a row and 10 wins in a row on Sunday with Ranger Suarez on the mound.