The Philadelphia Phillies have stayed near the top of the National League standings halfway through the season thanks in large part to their strong play at Citizens Bank Park.
They’ll close out their first-half home slate this week with two games against the Baltimore Orioles. Right-handers Zach Eflin and Alex Cobb will face off Tuesday night.
The Phillies enter the series at 45-37 and are 28-16 at home. The team had an off-day Monday after taking three of four against the Washington Nationals Atlanta Falcons Jerseys Womens , and the Phillies won Sunday in 13 innings with a walk-off homer from catcher Andrew Knapp.
“A win like that, especially against Washington, is huge for our season right now,” Knapp told NBC Sports Philadelphia. “It shows we’re here to stay. A lot of games left and we’ve got to keep playing well, but we’re up there with a lot of those teams.”
The Phillies have won 13 of their last 20 games and are firmly in second place in the National League East less than two weeks before the All-Star break. They’ll try to pad their win total against the Orioles (24-59), who have the worst record in baseball.
Eflin (6-2 Baltimore Ravens Jerseys Womens , 3.02 ERA) will be making his first start of July after a stellar month of June for the Phillies. The 24-year-old went 5-0 with a 1.76 ERA and 0.978 WHIP in five starts last month.
Eflin had one of the most impressive starts of his three-year major league career in his last outing. He threw seven scoreless innings against the New York Yankees, giving up only four hits while striking out six batters.
“Eflin was just outstanding,” Phillies manager Gabe Kapler told reporters about Eflin after his last start. “…He certainly wasn’t rattled by anything. When he had base runners on, it’s almost like he got calmer. He did a really good job of controlling the running game and controlling his fastball. His working north-south better than he has before. And in June, he was dominant the whole month against some of baseball’s best teams.”
Eflin has never faced Baltimore in 32 career starts. Cobb (2-9, 6.75) will also be making his first appearance against the Phillies in his seven-year major league career.
The Orioles are 3-11 in Cobb’s 14 starts in 2018 Buffalo Bills Jerseys Womens , including a loss to the Seattle Mariners last Wednesday. Cobb allowed five runs on eight hits and three walks over 4 2/3 innings in that start. It was the seventh time this season he’s surrendered at least five earned runs in a game.
“The inconsistency on my end, really never dealt with it before,” Cobb told mlb.com after the game. “But it’s really unacceptable to keep going out there and having a good game, and a game where you don’t give much of an opportunity for your team to win.”
The Phillies are 1-0 against the Orioles this season. They won a game in Baltimore on May 16 and will play another game at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on July 12 to make up a rained-out contest.
SAN DIEGO — Padres manager Andy Green says make nothing of the statistic. The only thing that’s important is that the Padres will be going for a series win Sunday in the rubber match of a three-game series against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Petco Park.
But here’s the stat. The Padres lost Friday night’s series opener to the Pirates — marking the 18th time in the last 19 series that the Padres have lost the opening game in the series.
Saturday night they held onto a 4-3 win to improve to 14-5 in the second game of their last 19 series. Going into Sunday, they are 11-7 in the third game.
“I don’t put much into that first game of a series statistic,” Green said Saturday. “I think it’s just one of those things that you don’t make too big a deal out of. The goal is to win the series and we have Tyson (Ross) on the mound for the rubber game.”
The right-handed Ross (5-5 Carolina Panthers Jerseys Womens , 3.32 earned run average) will be opposing Pittsburgh right-hander Jameson Taillon (5-6, 3.96 ERA) in Sunday afternoon’s rubber match.
The 32-year-old Ross has been the Padres most reliable pitcher this season. The Padres are 11-5 when he starts (including a 7-2 record over his last nine starts), although they have failed to score a run for him the last three times he has started.
Ross has not allowed more than three runs in his last nine starts and he has gone five or more innings in his last 11 starts. Over his last two outings, Ross has allowed three runs on nine hits and six walks in 13 innings. And his ERA over those past nine starts is 3.08.
Ross has already made one successful start against the Pirates this season. On May 18 in Pittsburgh, Ross held Pittsburgh to two runs on five hits and four walks with two strikeouts over six innings to get credit for the win in a 3-2 Padres victory.
Sunday will be Ross’ seventh career appearance against the Pirates. In six previous starts, Ross has a 2-2 record and a 3.24 ERA. Another thing Ross has going for him Sunday is Petco Park. He has a career 2.91 ERA in the Padres’ downtown home in 53 games (44 starts).
Taillon Chicago Bears Jerseys Womens , 26, will be facing the Padres for the first time this season although he will be making his third career start against the Padres. He has a 1-0 record with a 1.26 ERA over 14 1/3 innings in his first two outings against the Padres. He shut out the Padres on three hits and two walks over eight innings in 2016.
Like Ross, Taillon will also be making his 17th start of the season. After starting the season 2-0 with a 0.89 ERA in his first three starts, Taillon has gone 3-6 with a 4.87 ERA in his last 13 starts. But he has won each of his past three road starts, giving up four runs in 21 innings.
The biggest plus for Taillon Sunday could be the sunlight. He is 9-2 with a 2.87 ERA in 17 career day games and 4-0 with a 1.93 ERA in five daylight starts on the road.