The Philadelphia Phillies are back above .500, faster than most anyone thought possible — except maybe the players in their locker room.
The surging Phillies aim to continue their hot play on Monday when they welcome the Cincinnati Reds to town for the opener of a three-game set.
Philadelphia sat at 9-19 late last month when team leadership made the decision to replace manager Rob Thomson with Don Mattingly, formerly the team’s bench coach. Since then, the Phillies have gone 15-4 to bring their record to 24-23.
Most recently, Philadelphia completed a three-game sweep in Pittsburgh, including back-to-back 6-0 shutouts in their final two games against the Pirates.
“We feel good. This is what we knew we were capable of,” shortstop Trea Turner said. “We didn’t want, obviously, the start like we had. We are playing good baseball. We’ll focus on who is in front of us. We have a lot of baseball left. We got to keep playing good team ball and stacking up wins and see where it ends up at the end of the year.”
Zack Wheeler pitched seven strong innings for the Phillies, while Bryce Harper and Bryson Stott homered in Sunday’s triumph.
“That was great,” Harper said of the team’s 5-1 road trip to Boston and Pittsburgh. “Two series wins and a sweep here. I thought the pitching was great. I thought the offense was great as well. Just all around, good series.”
The Phillies, winners of four straight series, will give the nod to Andrew Painter (1-4, 6.21 ERA) in their opener against the Reds. The rookie right-hander is coming off one of the best starts of his career — a 3-1 loss to the Red Sox in which he gave up one run and four hits without a walk in five innings.
“I was happy with (Painter), just knowing that we’re going to need him all year long,” Mattingly said in reference to pulling Painter after 62 pitches. “Just get him building off a good start.”
Cincinnati will turn to left-hander Nick Lodolo (0-1, 8.68), who is making just his third start of the season due to a blister issue. He gave up five runs in four innings against the Washington Nationals his last time out.
“He gave up a bunch of runs in the second inning,” Cincinnati manager Terry Francona said of Washington’s four-run frame. “If anything, he probably threw too many strikes. He didn’t expand, which is not the worst thing, but I think his stuff is fine.”
Lodolo has started against the Phillies six times in his career, going 1-1 with a 3.06 ERA.
The Reds come into this series having dropped four of their last six games, including two of three in Cleveland over the weekend. The team has lost 10 of its last 11 road contests, including a 10-3 setback to the Guardians on Sunday.
Elly De La Cruz homered in a losing effort for Cincinnati, which has the exact same record as Philadelphia despite trending in the opposite direction.
Still, the Reds know that the MLB season is a marathon, not a sprint.
“It’s baseball. It’ll punch you right in the gut more times than not,” Reds starting pitcher Brady Singer said. “It’s obviously tough but there’s a lot of season left. I’m obviously trusting these guys a lot. We’re not changing how we’re acting or anything like that. You don’t see guys down or anything. A great group of guys and I trust them with everything I have and I’m excited for the next one and the rest of the season.”
–Field Level Media
