Hoping to prolong their newfound success under a fresh regime, the Philadelphia Phillies continue a six-game homestand on Friday with the series opener against the Colorado Rockies.
Despite a 12-1 loss to the Athletics on Thursday, the Phillies are 8-2 since firing manager Rob Thomson and promoting Don Mattingly to interim skipper. Philadelphia is vying to take advantage of a stretch that will see it play opponents with a losing record in four out of five series.
Phillies left-hander Jesus Luzardo (3-3, 5.09 ERA) gets the start on Friday, looking to continue a stretch of impressive outings. Following a slow start to the year, Luzardo has allowed just three runs total across his past three starts.
On Sunday, he picked up his second straight win, throwing 6 1/3 innings of two-run ball and striking out 10 in a 7-2 road victory over the Miami Marlins.
“(Luzardo) has been really good,” Mattingly said. “He hasn’t walked anybody in a couple games. He’s been in the strike zone, on the attack. … I didn’t see him (as) being bad early in the year. I just felt like there were some innings that got away. It was kind of the way everything was going for us early.”
Luzardo is 2-1 with a 4.50 ERA in six career appearances (four starts) against the Rockies. On April 4, he allowed one run across 6 2/3 frames and fanned a season-high 11 in a 2-1 win at Denver.
The Rockies will try to use a thrilling win to build momentum after a woeful start to the month of May. Colorado snapped a six-game losing streak by scoring the last six runs of a 6-2 victory over the visiting New York Mets on Thursday.
Jake McCarthy enters the road trip among the club’s hottest hitters. He belted two home runs and drove in seven runs across the past two games — including a tiebreaking grand slam in the eighth inning on Thursday.
“He’s been swinging the bat really well as of late,” Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer said of McCarthy. “… Huge, huge homer to lift the boys after losing six in a row. You can’t put words together to show how big that was. Good for Jake. Happy for him.”
Colorado will go with Chase Dollander (3-2, 3.38 ERA) in the series opener, giving him just his second start of the season after he primarily has appeared behind openers. Dollander, 24, went 5 1/3 frames on Saturday, allowing six runs on eight hits in a 9-1 loss to the Atlanta Braves.
“I thought he was just a little behind all day,” Schaeffer said of Dollander following that outing. “I thought it was unusual, had some walks (a season-high three). The breaking ball, off-speed stuff, not enough strikes out of those.”
Dollander faced Philadelphia for the first time in his young career on April 4, taking the loss after allowing a one run in 4 1/3 innings in the 2-1 defeat to Luzardo and company.
–Field Level Media
