After losing two straight to the Mets (56-62) to begin the four game series, the Phillies (53-65) walked-off in yesterday's game thanks to a ninth inning two-out RBI-single off the bat of Ryan Howard. The Phils trailed 6-1 at one point during the game, but came back to win it. Dom Brown's two-RBI double in the sixth made it 6-3. A two-run triple courtesy of Chase Utley made it 6-5 in the seventh. To lead off the ninth, Asche doubled and was knocked in with a Marlon Byrd single. After intentionally walking Utley to get to Howard, the Big Piece smacked the 3-2 pitch from Mejia down the right field line to bring home Byrd, securing a 7-6 win. Today, the Phillies look to split their four-game set with New York in a 1:05pm matinee. Each game thus far in this series has been decided by just one run.
David Buchanan (6-5l 4.39) will make his second start for the Phillies since returning from Lehigh Valley to fill Cliff Lee's spot in the rotation. The 25-year-old righty returned to throw a solid outing, holding the Astros to three runs over 6.1 innings of work in a 10-3 Phillies win. He set down five hitters via the strikeout. The Phillies scored five runs in the bottom of the first after Buchanan gave up an early run to the Astros. The Mets have seen Buchanan once already this season, back on May 29th when they beat Philadelphia 4-1. He tossed 6.2 innings and gave up four runs, three earned. Buchanan has kept the Phillies in each game that he has started over the last seven outings, holding teams to three runs or less in those starts. Juan Lagares is 1-for-4 with a double, two walks and two RBI's against Buchanan.
The Mets will counter with left-hander, Jonathon Niese (5-8, 3.51). Niese suffered his fourth straight loss in his last outing and is 0-4 with a 5.76 ERA since the All-Star Break. The later innings seem to be the troubling times for Niese, who has a combined 5.88 ERA in the sixth and seventh inning this season. Last time out, Niese gave up six runs to the Nationals in a 7-1 Mets loss on August 6th. Despite his season struggles, Niese is 7-6 with a 3.03 ERA in 18 career starts against the Phillies.
Game Notes:
- The Phillies have seen Niese three times this season. He is 1-0 with a 2.57 ERA against Philadelphia this season. Carlos Ruiz, hitting 5th today, is 10-for-27 lifetime against Niese with two doubles, a homer and three RBI's.
- Ryan Howard is hitting just .167 (4-for-24) in his career against the Mets left-hander with 11 strikeouts, a homer and four RBI's. Marlon Byrd has a .400 average (6-for-15) against him with a double, homer and an RBI.
- Mets closer, Jennry Mejia, blew his third save last night after pitching three out of the last four nights. He had only allowed three runs over 19 innings before giving up two in last night's loss.
- The Mets are 10-5 in their last 15 games against the NL East. The Phillies have the worst intra-divisional record in the NL East, with a record of 23-32.
- Today, Darin Ruf gets the start in left field while Andres Blanco starts at second base with Chase Utley getting the day off.
Phillies Lineup:
- Ben Revere CF
- Jimmy Rollins SS
- Marlon Byrd RF
- Ryan Howard 1B
- Carlos Ruiz C
- Darin Ruf LF
- Andres Blanco 2B
- Cody Asche 3B
- David Buchanan P
Mets Lineup:
- Curtis Granderson RF
- Daniel Murphy 2B
- David Wright 3B
- Lucas Duda 1B
- Juan Lagares CF
- Matt den Decker LF
- Wilmer Flores SS
- Anothony Recker C
- Jonathon Niese P
Location: Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Weather: 84° F – Partly Cloudy – 0% PoP
Game Time: 1:05 PM Eastern
