With last night's 4-2 win over Washington, the Phillies not only sealed their second straight win, but they pulled within seven games of first place behind the Braves – tying the Nationals. Cliff Lee was superb even after an hour and 14 minute-long rain delay before the game started. Lee made just two mistakes, two solo home runs on five hits through eight innings. The left hander walked none and struck out nine to earn his ninth win of the season. With offsensive outbursts from Michael Young (three doubles) and Ryan Howard (triple), the Phillies won their sixth consecutive game at Citizens Bank Park.
Tonight the Phillies will look to bring out the brooms and sweep the Nationals in three games. Kyle Kendrick (6-4, 3.76 ERA) will take on Gio Gonzalez (3-3, 3.40 ERA) in the series finale tonight.
Kyle Kendrick surely didn't have his best stuff last time out. On Friday against Colorado, Kendrick suffered his worst start of the season after allowing seven earned runs on 10 hits through 4 1/3 innings. He failed to strike out any one and walked two. Despite being lit up, Kendrick got off the hook after the Phillies came back to win it 8-7. Kendrick has been shaky in his last two starts, owning an 8.91 ERA (10 ER in 10 1/3 IP). Kendrick has been having issues with keeping the ball down in the zone and that has cost him. He will look to turn it around against the same Nationals team that scored five runs in five innings against him back on May 24th.
Gio Gonzalez has not won a ball game since May 5th despite pitching solidly since then. In his last start, a no-decision against the Indians, Gonzalez threw seven innings of one-run ball. He took his ninth quality start of the year even after walking four hitters. Gonzalez is looking to hopefully get some run support this time around. In his last three starts, Gonzalez has a 1.80 ERA (4 ER in 20 IP) and owns a 3-1 record with a 2.52 ERA in his career against Philadelphia.
Game Notes:
- With his RBI double last night, Michael Young pulled within one of 1,000 for his career.
- The Phillies are 18-9 against NL East teams this season.
- Ian Desmond is batting .435 (10-for-23) against Kendrick with two home runs and five RBIs off of him.
Phillies lineup:
- Ben Revere CF
- Michael Young 3B
- Jimmy Rollins SS
- Ryan Howard 1B
- Domonic Brown LF
- Delmon Young RF
- Kevin Frandsen 2B
- Carlos Ruiz C
- Kyle Kendrick P.
Nationals lineup:
- Denard Span CF
- Anthony Rendon 2B
- Ryan Zimmerman 3B
- Adam LaRoche 1B
- Jayson Werth RF
- Ian Desmond SS
- Roger Bernadina LF
- Kurt Suzuki C
- Gio Gonzalez P.
First Pitch Forecast: Sunny – 79° – 0% PoP
TV: CSN
Radio: 94 WIP, 1210 WPHT
Erik Seybold is a writer for Philliedelphia. Follow him on Twitter.
