Following a rough stretch since the All-Star break, the Philadelphia Phillies finally have some positive momentum entering their home series with the Miami Marlins.
The opener of the three-game series starts on Monday when left-hander Cristopher Sanchez toes the rubber for the Phillies.
Philadelphia had been 10-15 since hosting the All-Star Game prior to a much-needed three-game sweep of the Minnesota Twins. Their series began with a 7-1 win at the Field of Dreams Game in Iowa on Thursday and continued with 9-1 and 7-5 triumphs in Minneapolis over the weekend.
The Phillies trailed 5-0 on Sunday before rallying behind Alec Bohm, who drove in four runs, and Bryan De La Cruz, who delivered the go-ahead hit in the eighth.
“We’ve been able to come back,” Philadelphia interim manager Don Mattingly said. “Our at-bats have been good, up and down (the lineup). As long as we stay with it, start getting guys out there, you’ve got a chance to break through.”
The Phillies’ bullpen combined for four scoreless innings. The final reliever of the day, closer Jhoan Duran, worked out of a ninth-inning jam. However, he threw 33 pitches and likely will not be available Monday.
That means Philadelphia certainly would love a quality performance out of Sanchez (15-4, 2.54 ERA), who is the only 15-game winner in the National League. The left-hander gave up just four hits over six scoreless innings Tuesday against the St. Louis Cardinals before he was removed after 89 pitches.
“I didn’t want to pull Cristopher but checking with him after the inning, he was done,” Mattingly said. “I don’t know if it was the heat. The pitch count was OK, but tonight he was done. You could see it. We talked to him, asked how he was. He was done.”
Sanchez is 3-0 with a 1.06 ERA in seven career games (five starts) against Miami. He has yet to face the Marlins this season.
Janson Junk (6-7, 4.41) will get the nod for Miami in the midst of a solid stretch for the 30-year-old right-hander. Junk has a 1.93 ERA over his last four outings, including a win against the Pittsburgh Pirates last Wednesday in which he allowed two runs (one earned) on four hits in six innings.
“He kept the ball off the barrel,” Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said of Junk. “He was able to get ahead with a lot of pitches. … Janson was really solid.”
Junk faced the Phillies on May 4 and gave up one run in 5 1/3 innings in a 1-0 defeat. For his career, Junk is 0-2 against Philadelphia despite a 1.80 ERA in two starts.
Miami took two of three in Cincinnati over the weekend, capped by a 7-1 victory over the Reds on Sunday. Heriberto Hernandez homered in the eighth and Javier Sanoja went deep in the ninth to highlight a late power surge by the Marlins.
“You have to find a way to win these types of games this time of year,” McCullough said. “For us to hang in there and really be able to stack some at-bats and come back in the ninth and do it again … I tip my cap to our guys.”
This is the final series between the Phillies and Marlins this season. The teams have split the first 10 meetings.
–Field Level Media
