By: Nick Mandarano, contributor 
PHILADELPHIA — After starting the first two months of the season with .500 baseball, the Philadelphia Phillies (30-36) have gone 4-10 in the month of June and have lost 15 of their last 19 contests. Following a 7-0 shutout of the Toronto Blue Jays (37-31) in Game 1 of the four-game home-and-home series, the Phillies have allowed 18 runs and have scored just five over the next two.
Right-hander Aaron Nola will look to slow third baseman Josh Donaldson at the plate in the series finale as he opposes former Phillies southpaw J.A. Happ. Donaldson is riding an eight-game hitting streak and is batting .545/.643/1.273 in the series with home runs in back-to-back games.
Starting Pitching Matchup:
| Toronto Blue Jays (37-31) | Philadelphia Phillies (30-36) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LHP | J.A. Happ | RHP | Aaron Nola | ||
| (7-3, 3.70 ERA) | (5-5, 2.98 ERA) | ||||
J.A. Happ — Age: 33;
- Last Appearance: June 11, 2016, vs BAL: W, 7.0 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 5 SO, 3 HR
- Career vs. PHI: (3-0), 3 G, 17.1 IP, 12 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 10 BB, 10 SO, 2 HR, 1.56 ERA
Happ's seven wins leads all Toronto pitchers this season. Tonight will mark the fourth time he will oppose the Phillies, the team that drafted him and for which he made his debut. In each of his previous three starts against, Happ earned a win.
Happ will see eight right-handed hitters in the Phillies lineup tonight, including Maikel Franco who has returned to the starting lineup after some time off. Ironically enough, the southpaw has had an easier time keeping right-handed hitters (.299 OBP) off base than left-handed hitters (.323 OBP). However, righties are hitting 20 points higher and slugging over 140 points higher than lefties against Happ.
Will the Phillies offense be able to square up the off-speed stuff tonight? Opponents are hitting just .107 against Happ on non-fastballs over the past six starts. Those pitches include a sinker, change, curve and cutter. The good news is that more than 52% of Happ's pitches are fastballs. The bad news is that 34 of his 53 strikeouts in 2016 have come by way of a fastball.
Aaron Nola — Age: 23;
- Last Appearance: June 11, 2016, at WSN: L, 3.2 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 4 ER, BB, 3 SO
- Career vs. TOR: (0-0), 1 G, 5.0 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 4 BB, 5 SO, HR, 5.40 ERA
Nola will look to bounce back from his worst outing of the season, one in which he lasted fewer than 4 innings. Such a struggle was an unusual sight from Nola. In his last 61.2 innings pitched dating back to April 22, 51.2 have been scoreless. His 26.5% strikeout rate still ranks him 12th among all Major Leaguers.
Since a rough first two home starts for Nola, he has posted a 1.73 ERA in Citizen's Bank Park. Tonight, it will be important for Nola to keep the Blue Jays off the board in the early going. His 4.85 ERA in the first inning is significantly higher than his 2.62 ERA in all other innings.
Starting Lineups:
| Toronto Blue Jays (37-31) | Philadelphia Phillies (30-36) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position | Player | Bats | Position | Player | Bats | ||
| 1 | RF | Jose Bautista | R | 1 | CF | Odubel Herrera | L |
| 2 | 3B | Josh Donaldson | R | 2 | SS | Freddy Galvis | S |
| 3 | 1B | Edwin Encarnacion | R | 3 | 3B | Maikel Franco | R |
| 4 | LF | Michael Saunders | L | 4 | 1B | Tommy Joseph | R |
| 5 | C | Russell Martin | R | 5 | C | Cameron Rupp | R |
| 6 | CF | Kevin Pillar | R | 6 | RF | Jimmy Paredes | |
| 7 | 2B | Darwin Barney | R | 7 | LF | Tyler Goeddel | |
| 8 | SS | Ryan Goins | L | 8 | 2B | Cesar Hernandez | |
| 9 | P | J.A. Happ | L | 9 | P | Aaron Nola | |
Broadcast Information:
- First pitch: 7:05 p.m.
- TV: CSN
- Radio: SportsRadio 94 WIP
Game Notes:
- The Phillies are the only team in MLB with less than 100 runs scored at home this season (95). They are averaging just 2.88 runs per game at Citizens Bank Park, the lowest home average in the majors. The last time Philadelphia finished a season averaging less than 3 runs per game at home was 1940.
- After going 2-for-4 with a HR last night, Josh Donaldson extended his on-base streak to 20 games.
- Since May 20th, Phillies pitchers rank 23rd in the majors in ERA (4.82), 25th in opponents AVG (.275), 26th in OPS (.812), and 28th in SLG (.472).
What's Next:
- Friday, June 17, 2016: vs. Arizona Diamondbacks, 7:05 p.m.
- Citizens Bank Park
- LHP Robbie Ray (3-5, 4.57 ERA) vs. LHP Adam Morgan (1-5, 6.33 ERA)
- TV: NBC10; Radio: SportsRadio 94 WIP
