Phillies eye series victory over Braves in matchup between 22-year-old rookies Nola, Wisler

The Philadelphia Phillies (40-64) will look for their ninth series victory of the season tonight, and their fourth since the July 14 Mid-Summer Classic in Cincinnati, Ohio, as they face the division rival Atlanta Braves (46-57).

Tonight's game will feature a matchup between 22-year-old right handed rookies: Aaron Nola on the mound for the Phillies in his third career start, and Matt Wisler for the Braves, who was 4-0 in the month of July with a 3.30 ERA.

Starting Pitching Matchup:

Wisler, native to Bryan, Ohio, will be making his eighth career start tonight and his first against the Phillies. He has surrendered 14 doubles this season, and at least two in five of his seven starts.

Nick Suss of MLB.com writes:

Having allowed six or more hits in all but one of his starts and with a WHIP of 1.33, it may come as a surprise to see how good Wisler has been at preventing runs. This success has stemmed from his ability to avoid the long ball. The youngster is averaging more than 12.5 fly balls per start, 88 total in 42 innings pitched, but has surrendered just four home runs.

The right hander came to the Braves on April 5 through trade from the San Diego Padres, the team that drafted him in the seventh round of the 2011 amateur draft. In the deal, closer Craig Kimbrel and outfielder Melvin Upton (formely B.J. Upton) were sent out west in exchange for Wisler, along with outfielders Cameron Maybin and Carlos Quentin, minor leaguer Jordan Paroubeck, and a 2015 competitive balance round A pick.

Paroubeck was since dealt to the Los Angeles Dodgers on July 2, and Quentin has been released twice this season by the Braves (April 14) and the Seattle Mariners (May 1).

Nola will be making his second career start at Citizens Bank Park, and his first against a divisional rival. So far this season, the Baton Rouge, Louisiana-native drafted seventh overall in last year's amateur draft is 1-1 with a 3.29 ERA over two starts and 13.2 innings.

Nola picked up his first major league victory in his last start on Sunday, against the Chicago Cubs. In 7.2 innings, he surrendered four runs on five hits and two walks. Also, Nola got his first major league walk and run-batted-in at the plate.

In six career plate appearances Nola is batting 2-5 (.400), which includes his major league debut on July 21 against the Tampa Bay Rays where he earned his first major league hit.

Nola has a 0.951 WHIP ratio heading into tonight, and has thrown 67.8%, or 122 of his 180 pitches, for strikes. 34 of these pitches were strikes looking, 22 were strikes swinging, 19 were ground balls, 18 were fly balls, and 10 were line drives.

Just one of Nola's 10 hits allowed so far has gone for extra bases (double). This happened to be the first batter Nola faced in his career, Rays' left fielder John Jaso.

 Game Notes:

• Prior to the All-Star break, the Phillies had a 29-62 record and were projected to finish 52-110. Having won 11 of their 13 games since to improve their record to 40-64, they are now projected to finish the season at 62 wins and 100 losses. A win tonight would lower this projection of losses to 99.
• Since July 20, outfielder Domonic Brown is batting .424/.424/.697 with six scored runs, one double, one triple, two home runs and six runs-batted-in. Five of these nine games during this stretch were multi-hit performances.
• The Phillies have won four out of the five home games played against the Braves this season, averaging four runs and nine hits opposed to three runs and nine hits for Atlanta.

Promotion: Toyota Phillies Alumni Night

Broadcast Information:

• First-pitch: 7:05 pm EST
• TV: NBC10
• Radio: 94 WIP, 1210 WPHT, WTTM 1680 (Sp.)

What's Next:

Matt Rappa (@mattrappasports) is managing editor of Philliedelphia.com.