The Pittsburgh Pirates unveiled a reconfigured batting order against the Philadelphia Phillies, moving Bryan Reynolds down to the third spot in hopes of getting his bat back on track.

But Zack Wheeler set the tone by striking out the first two batters he faced and letting the Pirates know that it was going to be a long night. The Phillies ace showed why he was the 2024 NL Cy Young runner-up, recording six strikeouts in six scoreless innings.

Reynolds ended a hitless streak in the fourth inning and added a two-run home run in the ninth to prevent a shutout, as the Phillies pounded out 10 hits to roll to a 5-2 win Saturday night at Citizens Bank Park.

The Pirates (15-31) will try to avoid a three-game series sweep Sunday when Paul Skenes faces Mick Abel, who will make his major-league debut for the Phillies (27-18).

Wheeler allowed three hits and one walk against the Pirates, throwing 67 of his 97 pitches for strikes while touching 98.8 mph on his four-seam fastball, which he mixed with a sinker, sweeper, curveball and cutter.

“You see the velo, the pitch ability. It’s a great mix,” Pirates manager Don Kelly said on the SportsNet Pittsburgh postgame show. “Obviously, he’s a great starting pitcher.”

Oneil Cruz returned to the leadoff spot but was followed by Andrew McCutchen instead of Reynolds, who used two days off to work with mental skills coach Andy Bass for a reset. Reynolds, who didn’t play in Friday’s 8-4 loss to the Phillies, snapped an 0-for-21 streak with a bloop single in the fourth inning. It was his first hit since a single in a 3-2 win over the Atlanta Braves on May 9.

“(Bass) gave me some things to tell myself in the box or leading up to it,” Reynolds said. “That helped out. That helped clear some of the crap.”

The Phillies jumped on Pirates starter Carmen Mlodzinski early with three consecutive hits. Trea Turner reached on an infield single, advanced to third on Bryce Harper’s single to center and scored when Kyle Schwarber drilled a double to the right-field corner for a 1-0 lead.

But first baseman Spencer Horwitz, in his Pirates debut after completing a rehabilitation assignment split between Double-A Altoona and Triple-A Indianapolis, fielded a grounder by Nick Castellanos and made a perfect throw to catcher Joey Bart to tag Harper out at home plate to prevent another run from scoring. Horwitz grounded out to second twice before being replaced by pinch hitter Alexander Canario in the seventh.

Bryson Stott started the third inning with a 411-foot blast on a full-count slider for his fourth home run to give the Phillies a 2-0 lead. Mlodzinski, who allowed four runs on seven hits and one walk in 3 1/3 innings, was pulled after Alec Bohm singled and Brandon Marsh doubled in the fourth.

“I just didn’t pitch to my strengths,” Mlodzinski said. “The outings where I’ve struggled this year, I pitched more to the hitter weaknesses. That’s when you see me waste pitches, honestly.”

Lefty Joey Wentz came on in relief but gave up a two-run single to Stott and an RBI double to Harper as the Phillies increased their lead to 5-0.

After McCutchen drew a full-count walk off Tanner Banks with one out in the ninth, Reynolds followed by smashing a 3-2 slider 408 feet to right field for his sixth home run.

“Hitting’s not easy,” Kelly said. “When you’re going through it, as good as Bryan Reynolds is, as good as all those guys are, when you’re grinding and you’re trying to find a way, sometimes that’s all it takes, is finding that little bloop to get that confidence going again.”

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