Fresh off a complete game shutout from Jesús Luzardo to tie their series against the Atlanta Braves, the Philadelphia Phillies are set to host the Houston Astros for a three-game midweek series at Citizens Bank Park.
With 18 games to go for both ball clubs, the Astros (73-71) currently hold the lead in the American League West while the Phillies (81-63) sit 4.0 games behind the Braves.
Andrew Painter will open the series for the Phillies Tuesday night. The rookie right-hander will face the Astros for the first time on his career after recently keeping the Diamondbacks scoreless through seven frames, allowing only two base hits. Owning a high 5.56 ERA, the rookie has been on fire since returning to the club after the All-Star Break, pitching a 3.12 ERA over seven starts. He’ll face off against fellow righty Hayden Wesneski, who owns a 3.18 ERA in seven starts this season.
Cristopher Sánchez will then take the mound on hump day to face off against Hunter Brown. The Phillies’ ace has found himself in some trouble spots as of late, including taking the loss against the Braves on Friday. He will have to take his next step while dueling Brown, who has been a consistent threat in the Astros rotation for the entirety of the summer.
Zack Wheeler will then take Thursday’s getaway day game for the Phillies. His opponent has yet to be announced by the Astros at the time of publication.
During the month of August, the Phillies were a top-tier offensive threat, owning the best ERA across MLB at .353 while scoring the third-most runs at 147. They have done so by changing their approach as a team from one focused on slugging home runs to one focused on working the count and getting on base.
While the approach has largely stayed the same, they have found themselves in a bit of a cold stretch through their series against Atlanta. In four games, the offense combined to score only 11 runs, an average of 2.75 per game. The truth is it is hard to score runs when you are only averaging 6.5 hits per game.
Kyle Schwarber had to resort to hero ball on Monday, slugging a solo home run to score the only run on the day for either team. As an all-too-familiar foe in the Astros roll into town, the Phillies will need to trust their offense to switch back on starting Tuesday.
For much of the season, it has felt as if the Phillies’ bullpen has been walking on a tight rope with very little room for error. When mistakes are made, like the fastball thrown by Alex McFarlane to Ronald Acuña Jr. on Sunday, the effects reverberate for days to come.
Monday, Luzardo gave the bullpen a rare reprieve. Pitching a complete game shutout, no help was required from the bullpen. While José Alvarado and Jonathan Bowlan both began warming up in the ninth inning Monday, it leaves the bullpen in a position of rest ahead of their series against Houston.
From here on out, every game has playoff implications for the Phillies. Their series against the Astros features one of four division leaders the Phillies will need to face in their final 18 games. They will face the Astros, Braves, Brewers, and Rays a combined 12 times before the end of the season, with the remaining six games being against the Nationals and Mets.
Whether it is a division rival or a division leader, every team will have a reason of their own to take Philadelphia down.
As things stand, the Phillies still have an outside chance at the NL East title, being 4.0 games behind the Braves. For all intents and purposes, however, the focus must be on the Wild Card race. Following the Cubs’ loss to the Brewers on Monday, the Phillies have slipped into the first Wild Card slot, owning a 0.5 game advantage on the Cubs.
Further down the standings, the Phillies have a 4.5-game lead on the Diamondbacks for the final Wild Card slot, with the Padres sitting on the outside by 1.0 game.
If the Phillies can maintain the top Wild Card slot, that buys them the role of host for the Wild Card round as they would face the second Wild Card team, currently the Cubs. Ensuring a start to the postseason in friendly territory would be a considerable advantage for a club that has consistently drawn energy from its home crowd.
For the Wild Card Series to be at play in Philly, the Phillies need to start here and now with a strong showing against the Houston Astros.
