Early Season Rematch: Philadelphia Phillies Prepare for Battle Against St. Louis Cardinals
The Philadelphia Phillies will return home for a series against the St. Louis Cardinals at Citizens Bank Park. Heading into this series, the Phillies have been on a hot streak since their series win against the Cubs. The series win looks now to have been the turning point for the Phillies early in the season. Ever since that series win, the Phillies have won three straight series and look for their fourth straight against the Guardians Sunday Night. Both the offense and the pitching rotation have been performing extremely well during this stretch. The team looks to continue their hot streak and their streak of series wins against the Cardinals.
As for the Cardinals, they had the upper hand when the two teams faced off in the middle of April. The team won the series two games to one and defended their home park. Since that series, the Cardinals struggled a bit to drop to a record of 14-19, but rebounded since. The momentum flipped completely for the team during a rain delay at the start of May against the Mets. The team has won eight straight games, including two sweeps over the Pirates and Nationals, to push their record to three games over .500 at 22-19. The Cardinals will look to extend their winning streak against the Phillies this week and steal some games on the road.
Monday 5/12 - 6:45 p.m. EST
In the first game of the series, it will be Cristopher Sanchez for the Phillies against Matthew Liberatore for the Cardinals. Sanchez has been lights out for the Phillies this season with a 4-1 record to go with a 2.89 ERA. In his most recent start, the pitcher went six innings against the Rays while only allowing one hit and striking out 12 batters. Sanchez has performed extremely well at home this year, only allowing nine runs across 23 innings of work. As for Liberatore, he has also had a solid season so far this year, but he has also struggled at times. The thing that has been the most consistent with his performances is that he goes deep into his starts. Liberatore, across his eight starts, has gone to at least the sixth inning in seven of eight performances. Unfortunately for him, he has not had run support around him, which results in his 3-3 record. The Phillies will look for Liberatore to have a hiccup performance against them, like he did against the Reds.
Tuesday 5/13 - 6:45 p.m. EST
In the pivotal second game of the series, it will be Jesus Luzardo against Sonny Gray for the Cardinals. Both pitchers have been massive for each of their respective teams, however, Luzardo has been lights out for the Phillies. Luzardo arrived at the Phillies this offseason from the Miami Marlins, and since his arrival, he has not looked back. During his eight starts this season, he has an official record of 3-0 to go along with a 2.11 ERA, eleventh best in the MLB. His low ERA has been huge for the Phillies as he has only allowed over two runs once this season, which has allowed the Phillies to win six out of his eight starts. As for Gray, he has put a good season together of his own. This season, Gray has a 4-1 record to go with a 3.50 ERA. The Cardinals have also won six out of his eight starts, and he has gone in six or more innings in five of them. This matchup will be a battle of the pitchers, for which offense can capitalize first.
Wednesday 5/14 - 1:05 p.m. EST
In the final game of the series, it will be Aaron Nola against Erick Fedde for the Cardinals. Nola has struggled for much of this season with a 0-5 record to start the year, but finally got his first win against the Diamondbacks. Directly after that performance, Nola struggled yet again in his latest start against the Guardians. In the performance, Nola gave up four runs in five innings. Nola will hope to have some at-home magic to get back on track for the year. As for Fedde, he has had an up-and-down season to this point with a 3-3 record. To start the year, Fedde won the first game, and then the Cardinals proceeded to lose each of the next five games he appeared in. Fedde comes in with some momentum off his last appearance against the Nationals, where he completed a full game shutout across nine innings while striking out 12. The Phillies will look for Fedde to return to his previous form and capture the win over the Cardinals.
Offensive Outlook on the Series
The two teams in this series feature offenses that are clicking at the right time. For the Phillies, it has been the combo of Trea Turner and Kyle Schwarber. Starting with Turner, he has found his own this season in Philadelphia as he is batting 0.318 to go along with nine stolen bases. Turner has been red hot since the Cubs series and currently rides a two-hit game streak of five games. As for Schwarber, he is entering the final year of his contract in Philadelphia and looks like he wants to prove a point on why he should get the money. Schwarber has 12 home runs on the season to go along with a 0.262 batting average, the best during his time in Philadelphia. As for the Cardinals, it has been primarily the work of Brendan Donovan for their offense. Donovan is hitting top ten in the MLB at batting average at .318 to go along with 19 RBIs. Both offenses are blazing hot right now, so who will get the upper hand?
