If you had hoped that the first two games of this Astros-Phillies series would be any sort of indication of how the final game would play out, you'd be sadly mistaken. In the first battle of this three game set, the two teams played for fifteen innings and managed to put together just three runs. Philadelphia got the better of that game with a 2-1 victory, and would go on to take Game Two in a much different fashion. In fact, the two ballclubs collected three total runs just nine batters into Tuesday night's game. Eventually, the Phillies walked away with a 10-3 win, and now have the momentum for tonight's series finale. The pitching matchup this evening features (a) two pitchers having (an) unexpected seasons, one a seasoned veteran, and the other an up-and-coming righty.
Playing the role of the "seasoned veteran" is Roberto Hernandez, who is on one of the best streaks of his SCRATCH THAT. The Phillies have traded tonight's scheduled starter, Roberto Hernandez, to the Los Angeles Dodgers for to players to be named later. In his place, the team has called up Sean O'Sullivan to take his place. Back in the end of June, O'Sullivan made a spot start for the Phillies against the Atlanta Braves. It was a modest outing, where he allowed four earned runs in 5.2 innings of work. He allowed no walks while striking out three and giving up eight hits. Both his ERA and FIP sit above 4.50 with Triple A in 21 games this year.
A traditional baseball fan would see Collin McHugh's 4-9 record and assume he's having a bad year. A closer look at his numbers, however, tells a different story. A 3.52 FIP sits just a couple of ticks above his 3.32 ERA, and in sixteen starts this season, McHugh is punching out batters left and right. Of the 62 American League pitchers with at least 90 innings pitched this season, McHugh is ranked third (behind Yu Darvish and Chris Sale) with a K/9 rate of 10.14. McHugh is coming off a game in which he through 6.1 innings and only surrendered a single earned run to the Toronto Blue Jays.
Game Notes
- Last night, the Phillies tacked on ten runs for the second time in a weeks time. In between, the team averaged just one run per game (four runs in four games). They scored collected twelve total hits, four for Ben Revere and two each for Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley, and Ryan Howard.
- There are currently 21 players in Major League Baseball who are hitting at least .300 this season. Ben Revere ranks fourteenth with a batting average of .309 in 103 games. However, he ranks last in OBP with a .328 mark, seven points lower than the 20th ranked player, Matt Adams.
- Should Sean O'Sullivan lead his team to victory this evening, it will be the first time the Phillies have swept the Houston Astros in a three game set since the Opening Series of 2011.
Phillies Lineup
- Ben Revere CF
- Jimmy Rollins SS
- Chase Utley 2B
- Ryan Howard 1B
- Marlon Byrd RF
- Grady Sizemore LF
- Carlos Ruiz C
- Cody Asche 3B
- Sean O'Sullivan P
Astros Lineup
- Jose Altuve 2B
- Jason Castro C
- Chris Carter LF
- Mrac Krauss RF
- Jon Singleton 1B
- Matt Dominguez 3B
- Marwin Gonzalez SS
- Jake Marisnik CF
- Collin McHugh P
Location: Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Weather: 80° F – Clear – 0% PoP
Game Time: 7:05 PM Eastern
Andrew Gillen, Managing Editor of Philliedelphia.com
