Phillies Set Rotation for Friday Return

By Greg Hall, Sports Talk Philly editor

UPDATE: Friday's game against the Blue Jays has been shifted to a double-header on Saturday. Original story below

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As if it weren’t wacky enough that the Phillies were going to be the road team at Citizens Bank Park when the Toronto Blue Jays come to town this weekend (not the first time that has happened, by the way), it will also be the first game the Phils will take part in since their 11-6 loss to the Miami Marlins on Sunday.

After the Phillies four game set with the New York Yankees was postponed due to the Coronavirus outbreak amongst the Marlins, who are still quarantining in Philadelphia as of this writing, a lot of questions arose as to how manager Joe Girardi would handle his pitching staff going into the weekend’s games against Toronto. Those questions have now been answered, and then some.

Girardi will move the season debuts of Jake Arrieta and Zach Eflin back to allow Aaron Nola and Zack Wheeler to pitch closer to their regularly scheduled days. There was also an announcement about the first two games of the Marlins series set for Aug 4-6, if they were to take place.

The rotation, for now, will proceed as follows:

Friday 6:37 pm @ Toronto (CBP) – Nola

Saturday 6:37 pm @ Toronto (CBP) – Wheeler

Sunday 3:07 pm @ Toronto (CBP) – Arrieta

Monday – off

Tuesday 7:10 pm @ Miami – Eflin

Wednesday 7:10 pm @ Miami – Vince Velasquez

Neither the Blue Jays nor Marlins have made any public decisions about their rotations heading into the games. Not only will Velasquez make another start while fans yearn for the debut of top prospect Spencer Howard, it will come against the Marlins, a team he has struggled mightily against the last two seasons. He went 0-1 in five starts against the Fish last season, posting an ugly 7.06 ERA across 21 2/3 innings before getting shellacked on Sunday, giving up four earned runs in three innings, blowing the Phillies 4-0 lead in the process.