Toronto arrived in Philadelphia carrying the wear of three games in three cities, only to have Friday’s series opener pushed back nearly two hours by rain. The night was supposed to belong to Chase Utley, who was being honored with a spot on the Phillies’ Wall of Fame, but the attention shifted to the mound as Zack Wheeler. 

The Blue Jays kept making him work, with Nathan Lukes dragging one at-bat to 15 pitches and fouling off 10 before finally lining a single. By then, Wheeler had thrown 116 pitches, and Toronto’s dugout had also begun fixating on something else in his delivery, where his foot was landing on the pitching rubber.

In the fourth inning, hitting coach David Popkins finally yelled, “Get him on the rubber!” from the dugout. Home-plate umpire John Tumpane, after repeatedly hearing the complaint, called timeout and ejected Popkins, telling him, “I don’t wanna hear about the rubber anymore.” Wheeler then looked toward the Toronto dugout and appeared to mouth, “F*** you.”

That dispute had already been on Wheeler’s radar before Popkins was ejected. Wheeler said the Phillies had been informed after his June 21 start that MLB had seen video in which his right foot appeared to lose contact with the rubber on certain pitches. Wheeler and interim manager Don Mattingly said the Phillies have their own video showing that he remains in contact with it. Wheeler said he was told by Tumpane before the fourth inning to make sure he stayed on the rubber.

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The MLB rulebook does require the pitcher’s pivot foot to be in contact with the pitching rubber when starting from the windup. At the same time, the rule does not require the free foot to remain on the rubber; that distinction is important because the dispute centered specifically on Wheeler’s right pivot foot and how much contact it maintained during his motion. MLB’s windup-position guidance says a pitcher begins the delivery with the pivot foot on the rubber and may take a step backward or to the side with the free foot.

Through it all, Wheeler’s night was far from smooth, but he still managed to keep the Phillies within striking distance.

He allowed four runs on seven hits over 5 1/3 innings while issuing five walks, matching his season high, and struck out six. The five walks were particularly damaging on a night when Philadelphia knew its bullpen was already going to be stretched.

His toughest test came in the sixth inning against Nathan Lukes. With Wheeler already over 100 pitches, Lukes worked a 15-pitch at-bat, fouling off 10 pitches before eventually lining a single. The plate appearance pushed Wheeler to 116 pitches, his highest total in an outing since May 2021, and Toronto immediately turned that extended battle into pressure, loading the bases before Tim Mayza relieved him.

From the Blue Jays’ perspective, the concern was based on video angles that they believed showed Wheeler’s right, or pivot, foot moving off the first-base side of the rubber during the backward step in his windup. John Schneider had spoken with Tumpane about the issue before the fourth inning, according to Wheeler and Blue Jays broadcast analyst Caleb Joseph. However, even after ejecting Popkins, tension didn’t end.

Toronto manager John Schneider entered the field and talked with the home plate umpire. He later stressed that the Blue Jays were not trying to challenge Wheeler’s overall pitching ability, but were acting on what their video showed.

“Wheeler is an unbelievable pitcher and has been for a long time. I have all the respect in the world for him… We were just getting information that his foot was off the rubber … on the first-base side from video angles with that little step back from the windup, and I’m just gonna do everything I can to protect my guys.”

Schneider also acknowledged why the issue was difficult to police in the first place: “Again, it’s hard to see in real time.” The Blue Jays were therefore relying on angles that were not necessarily available to Tumpane from behind the plate during the actual delivery.

Wheeler, though, remained unapologetic. “I’m gonna keep doing what I do. I’ve been pitching over there forever, and I’m gonna keep doing it.”

He also made it clear that he believed Toronto’s pursuit of the issue was more about finding an edge than discovering a genuine violation. “You know, they’ve lost a lot of games over there, so they’re probably trying to pick some things up to complain about.”

The jab carried extra weight because Toronto entered the series at 55-62, having traded away several pieces at the deadline after a disappointing season. Wheeler’s comments therefore turned what began as a technical argument over his delivery into a much more personal exchange between the two dugouts.

As for Popkins, though, the ejection was the eighth of his MLB coaching career and, unlike all seven of his previous ejections, did not stem from a conventional balls-and-strikes argument.

His first two came in 2023 while he was Minnesota’s hitting coach, when he was ejected by Nic Lentz and Cory Blaser after disputed strike-three calls to Joey Gallo and Jorge Polanco. In 2024, Brennan Miller tossed him after two called strikes against Matt Wallner. After moving to Toronto, Popkins was ejected three times in 2025, by Derek Thomas, Nick Mahrley and Gabe Morales, and once more in June 2026 by Jansen Visconti. Independent pitch-location reviews judged six of those seven disputed calls correct; the exception was the April 6, 2024, Wallner at-bat, when both called strikes were judged incorrect.

That history gives Friday’s ejection a different edge. Popkins was not arguing over whether a pitch crossed the plate. He was challenging the legality of the pitcher’s setup, and doing it from the dugout after Toronto had been trying to get the issue addressed.

And Toronto had enough to show for the confrontation. The Blue Jays scored in four separate innings against Wheeler and eventually held off Philadelphia 5-4, despite the Phillies drawing 10 walks.

The Blue Jays’ New Additions Proved Fruitful

While the Blue Jays’ 5-4 win was shaped by the Wheeler-Popkins confrontation, the more important takeaway for Toronto was what its new-look roster managed to do against a Phillies team that repeatedly left scoring opportunities unfinished.

Acquired just days earlier from the Los Angeles Angels at the trade deadline, 27-year-old José Soriano made his Blue Jays debut after Toronto sent the Angels shortstop prospect Arjun Nimmala, outfielder Eddie Micheletti Jr. and right-hander Angel Rivero. Nimmala, a former first-round pick and Toronto’s top prospect, was the headline piece of the deal.

Soriano finished with two runs allowed, only one earned, and three strikeouts over 4 2/3 innings. More importantly, he showed the type of composure Toronto was hoping to add to its rotation. He entered the fifth inning having already worked through a rain-delayed start, then navigated a dangerous Phillies sequence before leaving with Toronto still in control.

The outing also showed why Toronto was willing to surrender significant prospect capital for Soriano. Before the trade, he had posted a 3.29 ERA over 22 starts for the Angels, with 127 strikeouts in 123 innings. He also came to Toronto with a league-high 57 walks, making command the obvious area the Blue Jays would need to improve.

That makes his debut particularly encouraging for Toronto. The Blue Jays did not need Soriano to dominate Philadelphia; they needed him to give them enough innings to bridge the game to a bullpen that was already being asked to absorb a difficult stretch. He did exactly that.

The Blue Jays were dealing with a pitching crunch a few weeks back. Soriano does not solve every problem, but his arrival gives Toronto another legitimate starting option, and one who is under team control through 2028.

In the end, the night produced two very different stories for Toronto: Popkins added another ejection to a remarkably consistent history of fighting balls and strikes, while Soriano began a new chapter with the club. The former created the noise; the latter helped Toronto leave Philadelphia with the win.