By Matt Rappa, Sports Talk Philly editor 
CHICAGO — The Philadelphia Phillies (12-12) will look to solve Chicago Cubs (13-12) left-hander Jon Lester in the second of a four-game set against the reigning World Series champions Tuesday evening at Wrigley Field.
Lester, 33, has never lost to the Phillies through eight career starts, going 6-0 with a 1.46 ERA and 0.904 WHIP ratio. He will oppose Phillies right-hander Jeremy Hellickson, who is tied for the National League lead in wins, 4.
The Phillies snapped their three-game skid on Monday with a 10-2 rout of southpaw Brett Anderson and the Cubs. In his third career start against the Phillies, Anderson lasted just 1 1/3 innings, yielding seven runs on as many hits, one walk and one strikeout through 43 pitches. It was his first losing decision since August 20 of last season.
Despite an 85-minute rain delay to start the contest, the Phillies put up 12 hits on the night and went 3-9 with runners in scoring position. A three-run first inning blast by first baseman Tommy Joseph, his second, put the Phillies up early. Right fielder Michael Saunders and shortstop Freddy Galvis also went yard in the seventh, the latter extending Galvis' hit streak to a National League-leading 13 games.
With the victory, the Phillies also ended a three-game losing streak at Wrigley Field. Had they lost, it would have been their first four-game skid at the historic venue since July 28, 1995 to June 3, 1996.
Starting Pitching Matchup:
| Philadelphia Phillies (12-12) | Chicago Cubs (13-12) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RHP | Jeremy Hellickson | LHP | Jon Lester | ||
| (4-0, 1.80 ERA) | (0-1, 3.68 ERA) | ||||
Hellickson Career vs. CHC: 1-0, 4.05 ERA, 1 G, 1 GS, 6 2/3 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 HR, BB, 4 SO, 0.750 WHIP
Hellickson, 30, will make his first career start at Wrigley Field and his second start overall against the Cubs. The right-hander first opposed Chicago on May 24, 2015, while as a member of the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field. In that start, all three of Hellickson's surrendered runs came via home runs to opposing catcher Miguel Montero and left fielder Chris Coghlan.
Hellickson has won four of his five starts this season. The only non-victory for the right-hander was a no-decision on April 9. Facing the Washington Nationals at Citizens Bank Park, Hellickson tossed five shutout innings with just one hit and one walk allowed.
The Des Moines, Iowa native is tied with two other players — Pittsburgh Pirates RHP Ivan Nova and Nationals LHP Gio Gonzalez — for surrendering the second-fewest earned runs this season among National League starting pitchers, 6. St. Louis Cardinals' RHP Mike Leake leads the way with 5, good for a NL-best 1.35 ERA.
Lester Career vs. PHI: 6-0, 1.46 ERA, 8 G, 8 GS, 55 1/3 IP, 40 H, 10 R, 9 ER, 2 HR, 10 BB, 53 SO, 0.904 WHIP
Three of Lester's eight career starts against the Phillies have occurred as a member of the Cubs. Lester has lasted at least seven innings in all but two of the eight outings, while seven resulted in a quality start.
Lester has struggled over his last two starts, allowing a combined 11 runs (10 earned) on 10 singles, six doubles, four walks and three home runs in 11 1/3 innings. This season at Wrigley, however, the Tacoma, Washington native has surrendered just one run through 13 combined innings, good for a 0.69 ERA.
Starting Lineups:
| Philadelphia Phillies (12-12) | Chicago Cubs (13-12) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position | Player | Bats | Position | Player | Bats | ||
| 1 | 2B | Cesar Hernandez | S | 1 | LF | Kyle Schwarber | L |
| 2 | LF | Aaron Altherr | R | 2 | 3B | Kris Bryant | R |
| 3 | CF | Odubel Herrera | L | 3 | 1B | Anthony Rizzo | L |
| 4 | 3B | Maikel Franco | R | 4 | RF | Ben Zobrist | S |
| 5 | RF | Michael Saunders | L | 5 | SS | Addison Russell | R |
| 6 | 1B | Tommy Joseph | R | 6 | CF | Jason Heyward | L |
| 7 | SS | Freddy Galvis | S | 7 | C | Willson Contreras | R |
| 8 | C | Cameron Rupp | R | 8 | P | Jon Lester | L |
| 9 | P | Jeremy Hellickson | R | 9 | 2B | Javier Baez | R |
Broadcast Information:
- First pitch: 8:05 p.m.
- TV: CSN
- Radio: SportsRadio 94 WIP
Game Notes
- Since 2007, the Phillies have the highest win percentage (19-14, 0.576) among all visiting Major League teams at Wrigley Field, minimum 10 games.
- The Cubs have allowed a MLB-worst 32 first inning runs this season. The Phillies capitalized with four of their own in the series opener.
- As a rotation, the Cubs have struggled over the last 14 days. Three of their starting pitchers — Anderson (2.45), Lester (2.03) and RHP Jake Arrieta (2.03) — rank in the top five of worst WHIP ratio among National League starters. The Phillies will have faced each of these pitchers before this Thursday's series finale matinee.
- Active members of the Cubs are batting .167/.231/.417 lifetime against Hellickson, with just a single and solo home run through 12 at-bats. Galvis and right fielder Michael Saunders, meanwhile, have both gone yard once against the Cubs' left-hander in their respective careers.
NL East Standings (entering May 2, 2017)
| W | L | GB | L10 | Streak | Home | Road | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Washington Nationals | 17 | 8 | — | 7-3 | W1 | 7-5 | 10-3 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 12 | 12 | 4.5 | 7-3 | W1 | 7-4 | 5-8 |
| Miami Marlins | 11 | 13 | 5.5 | 3-7 | L1 | 5-5 | 6-8 |
| New York Mets | 11 | 14 | 6.0 | 3-7 | W1 | 4-10 | 7-4 |
| Atlanta Braves | 10 | 14 | 6.5 | 4-6 | L2 | 4-4 | 6-10 |
What's Next:
- Wednesday, May 3, 2017: at Chicago Cubs, 8:05 p.m.
- Wrigley Field
- RHP Jerad Eickhoff (0-2, 3.56 ERA) vs. RHP Jake Arrieta (3-1, 4.66 ERA)
- TV: CSN; Radio: SportsRadio 94 WIP
