By: Brandon Apter, Senior Staff Writer 
Philadelphia, PA – Following a road trip that saw them put up an impressive amount of hits and runs, the Philadelphia Phillies returned home on Friday night for a three-game series with the defending champion Kansas City Royals, taking the series opener, 4-3.
Friday night's win was due in large part to a strong pitching performance from Jeremy Hellickson and clutch RBI hits from both Maikel Franco and Cody Asche, who hit his seventh double in the last 10 games. Odubel Herrera also boosted his All-Star resume with a lead-off homer, an RBI single and two runs scored.
This evening, the Phillies look to extend their win streak to five behind the struggling Aaron Nola, who will be opposed by Danny Duffy of the Royals. First pitch is slated for 5:05pm.
Starting Pitching Matchup:
| Kansas City Royals (42-37) | Philadelphia Phillies (36-45) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LHP | Danny Duffy | RHP | Aaron Nola | ||
| (3-1, 3.24 ERA) | (5-7, 4.45 ERA) | ||||
After a dominant start against the Brewers on June 5, Aaron Nola's ERA was sitting pretty at 2.65. In his next four starts, he hasn't made it out of the fourth inning, going 0-3 with a 15.23 ERA in that span. Nola is the first Phillies starter to be unable to get through the fourth in four consecutive starts since Marty Bystrom in 1982. His last outing came against the Giants in San Francisco. The 23-year-old out of LSU lasted just 3.1 innings, giving up five runs on 10 hits. Nola has walked three batters in two of his last three starts. He had only walked three in one game during his 13 starts prior.
Kansas City will look to even the series behind southpaw Danny Duffy, who is coming off of a strong performance against the Cardinals on Monday. Duffy matched his career-high of eight innings pitched, allowing two runs and striking out eight. The Royals are 6-3 the season with Duffy on the mound, who is 4-3 with a 3.00 ERA in 14 career Interleague games, 11 of which were starts.
Starting Lineups:
| Kansas City Royals (42-37) | Philadelphia Phillies (36-45) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position | Player | Bats | Position | Player | Bats | ||
| 1 | Alex Gordon | L | 1 | CF | Odubel Herrera | L | |
| 2 | Whit Merrifield | R | 2 | RF | Peter Bourjos | R | |
| 3 | Kendrys Morales | S | 3 | SS | Andres Blanco | S | |
| 4 | Eric Hosmer | L | 4 | 3B | Maikel Franco | R | |
| 5 | Salvador Perez | R | 5 | 1B | Tommy Joseph | R | |
| 6 | Cheslor Cuthbert | R | 6 | C | Carlos Ruiz | R | |
| 7 | Alecides Escobar | R | 7 | LF | Tyler Goeddel | R | |
| 8 | Jarrod Dyson | L | 8 | 2B | Cesar Hernandez | S | |
| 9 | Danny Duffy | L | 9 | P | Aaron Nola | R | |
Broadcast Information:
- First pitch: 5:05 p.m.
- TV: CSN
- Radio: 94 WIP
Game Notes:
- Cody Asche gets the night off against the lefty in favor of Tyler Goeddel. Asche's average is up to .291 this season after going 1-for-3 with an RBI-double and a walk on Monday.
- Phillies outfielder Peter Bourjos led all National League hitters for the month of June with his .410 batting average. Jose Altuve of the Astros, who hit .420, was the only player in baseball with a better average.
- Kansas City is 15-25 on the road the season.
- Andres Blanco is 3-for-6 in his career against Danny Duffy.
- Kendrys Morales of the Royals hit .402 with five home runs in June. He's played right field the past three games after playing nothing but first base or being the designated hitter since 2008.
- Jeanmar Gomez is 1-0 with three saves in his last four appearances, despite not striking out a batter.
- The last time the Phillies won a series against the Royals was in June 2004.
What's Next:
- Wednesday, June 1st, 2016: vs. Kansas City, 1:35 p.m.
- Citizens Bank Park
- RHP Vince Velasquez (6-2, 3.38 ERA) vs. RHP Yordano Ventura (6-5, 5.00 ERA)
- TV: CSN, MLB.TV; Radio: 94 WIP
