The Philadelphia Phillies (29-27) are fresh off a sweep against the San Diego Padres to get off to a strong start to their six-game road swing out on the West Coast. They enjoyed an off day on Thursday and now visit the two-time defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers (36-20) for a weekend series.
It’s a rematch of last year’s NLDS series, where the Dodgers claimed the best-of-five series in four games, ending another Phillies season in postseason disappointment.
Heading into the weekend, the Phillies are sitting in second place in the NL East, 8.5 games behind the Atlanta Braves. The Dodgers have won five straight and currently have a 4.5-game lead over the Arizona Diamondbacks in the NL West and have the second-best record in MLB, only behind the Braves.
However, the Dodgers have been decimated with injuries so far this season, with 14 players on the IL, including two key pieces in the lineup who recently hit the shelf: utilityman Kike Hernandez (oblique) and outfielder Teoscar Hernandez (hamstring). They are still waiting for Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow and Edwin Diaz to return as well on the pitching side.
Brandon Marsh (finger) is expected to be back in action this weekend for the Phillies.
First Pitch Times: Friday, 10:15 p.m. EDT (Apple TV), Saturday, 10:10 p.m. EDT (NBSCP); Sunday, 4:10 p.m. EDT (NBCSP).
Friday, Game 1: RHP Zack Wheeler (4-0, 1.67 ERA) vs.LHP Justin Wrobleski (6-2, 3.07 ERA)
Any concerns or questions about whether Wheeler would return to form and be a second ace in the rotation coming back from thoracic outlet syndrome are in the rearview mirror. Wheeler has been superb since returning to the mound.
The Phillies are 6-0 in all of his starts so far this season, thanks to the veteran keeping opposing offenses in check. Across 37 ⅔ innings, he’s allowed just seven earned runs and has not allowed an earned run in his last 13 ⅔ innings, including back-to-back scoreless outings, allowing just six hits, two walks and 14 strikeouts.
In his six starts, Wheeler has allowed two earned runs or less in five of them, with his season high being a three-run outing against the Athletics on May 6, where he turned in a quality start going 6 ⅓ innings in a no-decision.
Opponents are hitting just .077 against his four-seam fastball, which he uses 39% of the time and sits on average at 95 mph.
Wrobleski, a southpaw, has alternated good and bad starts this month. In his first and third starts in May, he allowed just two earned runs in 12 innings of work. In his second and fourth starts, he has been touched up for 12 earned runs in 13 ⅔ innings. If the trend continues, Wrobleski is in line for another quality start.
The Phillies have struggled all season against left-handed pitching.
Saturday, Game 2: RHP Andrew Painter (1-5, 5.40 ERA) vs. RHP Roki Sasaki (3-3, 4.93 ERA)
Painter has done a nice job bouncing back after his ugly outing against the Athletics back on May 7 where he allowed a career-high eight earned runs in just 3 ⅔ innings of work. Since then, he has allowed two earned runs or less in each of his last three starts, posting a 2.63 ERA across 17 ⅓ innings. In his last start against Cleveland he suffered the tough-luck loss giving up just two earned runs in 6 ⅓ innings in a 3-1 loss.
Opposing the rookie will be the righty Sasaki, who has had a bumpy start to his career stateside. Originally viewed as a starter, Sasaki struggled last season and was sent down to the minors only to come back to be electric out of the bullpen during the team’s World Series run last year. He put together a dominant performance against the Phillies in the NLDS, making three appearances out of the bullpen, tossing 4 ⅓ scoreless innings, allowing just one hit, zero walks and struck out three in relief.
Now back in a starting role due to the litany of injuries, the righty has gone from posting a 7.23 ERA in April to a respectable 3.52 ERA in four May starts. In his last outing, he earned the win on the road at Milwaukee, allowing just two earned runs on four hits with two walks and four strikeouts in five innings of work.
He’s just two starts removed from his best outing of the season, where he held the Angels to just one run over seven innings and struck out eight in a winning effort.
Sunday, Game 3: LHP Jesús Luzardo (4-4, 4.38 ERA) vs. RHP Yoshinobu Yamamoto (4-4, 3.09 ERA)
Luzardo has turned in a solid May after a bumpy April. In five starts this month, the lefty is 2-1 with a 2.96 ERA with 31 strikeouts to just eight walks. A much better-looking line compared to his April performance, where he was 2-2 with a 4.76 ERA with 34 strikeouts and eight walks.
The southpaw is coming off a shutout performance in his last time out at San Diego, scattering four hits, allowing two walks and striking out six in six innings of work. It was his second scoreless outing this month and third of the season. Over his last three starts, Luzardo has allowed just two earned runs over his last 18 innings of work.
The Phillies were able to avoid seeing Shohei Ohtani, who has been incredible on the mound, posting a ridiculous 0.82 ERA in 55 innings of work this season. However, the Phillies do see Yamamoto, last year’s World Series MVP, in the series finale.
The right-hander is coming off a strong outing in his last time out at Milwaukee, where he allowed just one earned run, scattering seven hits in seven innings of work. The start prior against San Diego, he struck out eight batters for a third consecutive start while yielding just one earned run in seven innings.
Yamamoto made two starts against the Phillies last season. On April 4, he suffered the loss despite giving up an unearned run in six innings of work. He only allowed three hits, walked three and struck out five. In the NLDS, the Phillies were able to get to Yamamoto, scoring three runs against him on six hits in four innings in an 8-2 Game 3 win.
Trea Turner looks to be coming out of a 0-for-16 cold spell over a four-game stretch by homering in each of the final two games of the series at San Diego. He’s still hitting just .175 with a .658 OPS over the last 10 games.
The last time the Phillies played at Dodger Stadium, their season came to an end. Kyle Schawarber did accomplish a rare feat, becoming just the second player to ever hit a home run over the pavilion in right field, according to the Associated Press.
Freddie Freeman has had great success against Wheeler in his career. The slugging first baseman is a career .389 hitter against Wheeler with a 1.088 OPS.
