Both teams are far off the pace in the National League East and are more focused on rebuilding at this time. Atlanta has been playing better of late and has the home field advantage, so it should be favored to at least split this series while aiming to pick up three victories.
This series will be contested from Monday, June 5 through Thursday, June 8, 2017 at Turner Field in Atlanta, Georgia.
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Pitching Matchups
The Phillies begin the series by sending Nick Pivetta to the mound. He is 0-2 with a 5.12 ERA. He is averaging more than a strikeout per inning but is allowing a .325 batting average against and needs to do a better job of keeping hitters in check. The Braves will counter with veteran Bartolo Colon, who is 2-6 with a 6.99 ERA. He has been rocked the past two times out, allowing 17 hits and 16 runs.
On Tuesday, Philadelphia is scheduled to start Aaron Nola. He is 2-3 with a 5.06 ERA but has solid peripheral numbers throughout his career and is likely to see that ERA shrink as the season moves forward. The Braves will start Jaime Garcia, who is 2-3 with a 3.18 ERA. He has only allowed one earned run over the past three starts but doesn’t have great peripheral numbers and is actually the inferior starter despite the numbers.
The Wednesday game will feature Philadelphia’s Jerad Eickhoff on the mound. He is 0-6 with a 5.13 ERA but should see that ERA improve moving forward as he is more talented that the numbers suggest. He will face off against Atlanta starter Mike Foltynewicz, who is 3-5 with a 3.90 ERA. He is coming off a fantastic outing in which he struck out 10 and only allowed two hits in seven innings.
In the series finale, the Phillies will start Ben Lively, who has one career start but was great in it. He allowed one run in seven innings, but walked three batters without recording a strikeout, which is a cause for concern. Atlanta’s scheduled starter, R.A. Dickey, is 3-4 with a 5.10 ERA. He has more walks than strikeouts but if his good knuckleball is going the Phillies could have some trouble.
Player To Watch
Matt Kemp -- The former star outfielder is having a turn-back-the-clock season. He is batting .335 with 10 homers, 30 RBIs and a .948 OPS on the season. He cooled off the past two games but has been an impressive presence in the middle of the order and might be trade bait at the deadline if a contender needs another bat in the outfield.
The Braves need his offensive firepower as they aim to stay afloat without star first baseman Freddie Freeman, who is out with a fractured hand. The Braves have added some veterans to the lineup in recent years with Kemp, Brandon Phillips and Nick Markakis, and if they hit well in this series the Phillies could be in trouble.
Key Stat
Seven. That’s the number of road wins on the season for the Phillies, out of 28 contests. Philadelphia is 12-14 at home but has really struggled away from it this season. With that in mind, the Phillies would likely be happy with a split of this four-game set in Atlanta.
The Phillies have lost 10 of their past 12 games. They dropped two games out of three to the Nationals, got swept by the Rangers, only won one of three against the Pirates and then were swept by the Marlins in Miami.
Philadelphia is beginning a three-city, nine-game road trip with this series and hopes to improve its road fortunes in Atlanta.
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