The Philadelphia Phillies will return home Friday looking to climb back toward .500. To say it was a rough road trip is a bit of an understatement. They were swept by the Los Angeles Dodgers. Now, back at Citizens Bank Park, they host the hot Boston Red Sox visit in the first of a three-game series. Thanks to that rough experience on the West Coast, Philadelphia is leading in one super fun category.
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Not great, Bob. Not great.
It's the first that the Phillies have played Boston since 2021. Boston is 19-14 and sits in third place in the AL East, 7.5 games back of the 26-6 leading Tampa Bay Rays. They rank second in the AL in scoring thanks to 10 home runs by Rafael Devers and Jarren Duran (.444 on-base percentage in 16 games). They had 58 hits in their series against the Toronto Blue Jays (an easy feat to do this season). Yet Boston does have a weakness: their pitching rotation is abysmal at best. Could it be a boon for the Phillies? Could be.
Phillies pitching might be better at home
Here are the probable pitching matchups for the weekend series:
Friday, Game 1 @ 7:05 pm: Chris Sale (2-2, 6.75 ERA) v Zack Wheeler (3-1, 3.86 ERA)
Saturday, Game 2 @ 7:05 pm: Corey Kluber (1-4, 6.44 ERA) vs Bailey Falter (0-5, 5.01 ERA)
Sunday, Game 3 @ 1:35pm: Tanner Houck (3-1, 5.34 ERA) vs Taijuan Walker (2-2, 6.91 ERA)
Los Angeles showed a preview that this match between the Phillies and Red Sox might not entirely be a high-scoring game. The Phillies were outscored 36-11 in LA. It was only the second time they were outscored by 25 in a series in the last 60 years. That is NOT ideal heading into a series where you'd like to go above .500.
Game 1: Phillies plan to take the wheel after Houston
Zack Wheeler dazzled during his previous outing against the Houston Astros. He has six scoreless innings in the 6-1 win. There's an upside for him: he's gifted with keeping the balls inside the park. Only 3.2% of his fly balls ever turn into home runs. He looked like an ace again and against a hot Red Sox squad, he'll need to bring out that 97 mph fastball against their bats.
For Sale, he only had two starts during the 2022 season due to injury. The left-hander in 2023 has pitched two quality starts but still allowed five runs over five innings in the next visit to the mound. Almost 20 percent or 19.2 percent to be exact, of his fly balls leave the ballpark and the crowd for the Friday night game would be ecstatic.
Game 2: Falter should not Flater on Saturday night
Bailey Falter's outing on Sunday was not great. It wasn't cute either, I'm talking not wrinkly bulldog cute. There wasn't a groove he was able to find and it showed. He allowed four runs on eight hits and three walks over 4 and a third innings. It wasn't as if this continued a pattern, he has a great start to the season. Yet after this failure against Houston, he has an ERA of 5.01. The 26-year-old will also carry a 1.33 WHIP heading into his Saturday start.
Kluber on the other hand allowed three runs on five hits and four walks over 5.1 innings. He struck out seven in Monday's 6-5 loss to the Blue Jays. Despite having a 6.44 ERA and 1.40 WHIP, Kluber is a bit of a mixed bag.
Game 3: worse vs bad and who comes out on top
Taijuan Walker was BAD. Currently, he sits 2-2, 6.91 ERA, 29 SO. He allowed eight runs in 3 1/3 innings in a 13-4 loss to the Dodgers. Wanna guess where that put his ERA: jumped from 4.97 to 6.91. He says he's healthy but stats like that do not help his case. He's got an 11-year career-high 13 percent walk rate. Walker has walked at least three batters in half of his starts this season.
Tanner Houck is in the Red Sox rotation for a reason: there isn't much depth there at all. He's got the lowest ERA of the whole bullpen and has won four of his five starts. Houck, oddly enough, doesn't have much to throw against lefties. Teams will stack lineups with this knowledge and for Philadelphia, this might not be the worst decision. Lucky for him, Philadelphia doesn't have many lefties so he might have an easier chance with their lineup.
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AP Photo/Frank Franklin II
