The Philadelphia Phillies will go for the fifth sweep in their past six series when they conclude this round of wild-card roulette in the finale of a three-game set against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday afternoon in Phoenix.
The Phillies (79-60) have won six games in a row and 15 of their past 17, and they moved one game ahead of the Chicago Cubs in the race for the first National League wild-card spot.
Philadelphia beat Arizona 7-1 on Tuesday, and NL East leader Atlanta (82-57) lost to Washington 9-5, moving the Phillies within three games of the division lead.
They were 10 1/2 games out of first place on May 22.
Philadelphia and Atlanta will meet seven times in 10 days, starting with a four-game Labor Day series that begins Friday in Philadelphia.
“Obviously, we’ve got a long way to go,” said the Phillies’ Bryce Harper, who had four singles and a walk Tuesday to extend his career-long on-base streak to 34 games. Just got to keep going and not worried about that right now. Got to win games and just got to keep playing the great brand of baseball we are right now.”
The Diamondbacks (73-67), meanwhile, are fighting for their playoff life. They lost a chance to pass the San Diego Padres (73-66) in a tight race for the NL’s third and final wild-card spot after the Padres lost 4-3 in Cincinnati.
Much-improved Phillies right-hander Andrew Painter (3-8, 5.95 ERA) will make his second career appearance against Arizona in the series finale. In his first appearance, the rookie gave up one run on three hits in five innings in a 4-3 loss in Philadelphia on April 12. He was not charged with the defeat.
The Diamondbacks announced reliever Taylor Clarke (2-3, 2.60 ERA) as their starter in what is shaping up as a bullpen game. Another right-hander, Jose Cabrera (0-3, 5.32), could serve as a bulk reliever and would be pitching on regular rest.
Clarke is 1-1 with an 8.00 ERA in eight lifetime appearances against the Phillies.
Arizona struggled to score against Aaron Nola and Jesus Luzardo, respectively, in the first two games of the series and was 0-for-13 with runners in scoring position and 17 stranded. The team has scored two runs or less in six of their last nine games, losing three in a row.
Diamondbacks right fielder Corbin Carroll is on a 3-for-33 skid. He has been dealing with lower back discomfort, manager Torey Lovullo said.
“He has not complained about it one time,” Lovullo said, “And he wants to play, so I’m not going to get in the way of that.”
Painter has been a different pitcher since returning from a six-week stint in the minors that started in mid-June.
He was 1-8 with a 7.06 ERA in his first 14 starts, and his only win came in his first start of the season, a 3-2 victory over the Washington Nationals in which he gave up one run and four hits in 5 1/3 innings on March 31.
Since returning from Triple-A Lehigh Valley, Painter is 2-0 with a 3.78 ERA in six starts. He enters Wednesday’s game after consecutive quality starts in a 12-3 win over St. Louis on Aug. 22 and a no-decision in the Phillies’ 5-3 win over the Los Angeles Angels on Friday.
Painter’s four-seamer was timed at 99.6 mph, his fastest of the season, on the 100th of his 103 pitches against the Cardinals.
“Just learning how to manage a game, right?” Painter said. “When the game speeds up on you, being able to slow it down and keep some composure. I feel like early in the year, stuff kind of spiraled and went really bad.”
–Field Level Media
