By Brandon Apter, Sports Talk Philly editor 
Los Angeles, CA – The Philadelphia Phillies and Los Angeles Dodgers continue their three-game series tonight at Dodger Stadium. L.A. took game one of the series on Monday night, 9-4, thanks in large part to a two-homer run game from Cory Seager and a two double, three RBI night for Joc Pederson. Former Phillies second baseman Chase Utley hit a solo home run as well.
Phillies starter Zach Eflin continued his string of rough outings on Monday, allowing seven runs in three innings, upping his ERA to 5.54 on the season. In the two starts prior to last night, Eflin had allowed 13 earned runs in 10 innings. His struggles seem to be with his pitch elevation as last night saw the rookie throw too many sinkers up in the zone.
Philadelphia will look to even the series up tonight behind Vince Velasquez. The Dodgers will send Kenta Maeda to the hill, looking for his 11th win of the season.
Starting Pitching Matchup:
| Philadelphia Phillies (52-62) | Los Angeles Dodgers (63-49) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RHP | Vince Velasquez | LHP | Kenta Maeda | ||
| (8-3, 3.33 ERA) | (10-7, 3.22 ERA) | ||||
Although Velazquez has an 8-3 record and a respectable ERA of 3.33, the Phillies really need a longer outing from the flame- throwing right-hander tonight following a three-inning effort from Zach Eflin on Monday. Velasquez has only lasted seven or more innings in two of his 19 starts this season with his last outing being a five-inning workload against the Giants back on August 4, a 3-2 loss for the Phillies. Vince struck out six, walked three and threw 93 pitches. Since returning from the disabled list on July 19, he's allowed nine earned runs over 24 innings, an ERA of 3.38, with 21 strikeouts. In his last 36 innings, he's walked 17 batters after walking just 22 in his first 66.2 innings this season.
Leading the Dodgers with 125.2 innings pitched so far this season, Maeda picked up win number 10 in his last start against the Rockies on August 4. He allowed two runs in 5.2 innings. Maeda has held opposing teams to two runs or less in four of his last six starts. Tonight will be his first time seeing the Phillies. In 35.2 innings during the month of June, he posted an ERA of 2.52. That success didn't keep up in July, where he went 2-2 with a 4.61 ERA in five starts.
Starting Lineups:
| Philadelphia Phillies (52-62) | Los Angeles Dodgers (63-49) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position | Player | Bats | Position | Player | Bats | ||
| 1 | 2B | Cesar Hernandez | S | 1 | 2B | Chase Utley | L |
| 2 | CF | Odubel Herrera | L | 2 | SS | Corey Seager | L |
| 3 | 3B | Maikel Franco | R | 3 | 3B | Justin Turner | R |
| 4 | 1B | Ryan Howard | L | 4 | RF | Josh Reddick | L |
| 5 | C | Cameron Rupp | R | 5 | 1B | Adrian Gonzalez | L |
| 6 | RF | Aaron Altherr | R | 6 | C | Yasmani Grandal | S |
| 7 | SS | Freddy Galvis | S | 7 | CF | Joc Pederson | L |
| 8 | LF | Cody Asche | L | 8 | LF | Howie Kendrick | R |
| 9 | P | Vince Velasquez | S | 9 | P | Kenta Maeda | R |
Broadcast Information:
- First pitch: 10:10 p.m.
- TV: CSN
- Radio: 94 WIP
What's Next:
- Wednesday, August 10th, 2016: at Los Angeles Dodgers, 3:10 p.m.
- Dodger Stadium
- RHP Jeremy Hellickson (9-7, 3.72 ERA) vs. LHP Scott Kazmir (9-5, 4.51 ERA)
- TV: CSN, MLB Network; Radio: 94 WIP
