Diamondbacks at Phillies
Paul Goldschmidt and the Arizona Diamondbacks are following a familiar script to success, and it's one that is all too familiar for the free-falling Philadelphia Phillies. After homering in back-to-back contests, Goldschmidt and the visiting Diamondbacks look to continue to ride the long ball on Sunday afternoon as they play the third contest of their four-game series versus the skidding Phillies.
Goldschmidt, who belted a two-run homer in a 4-1 win on Saturday, is 20-for-49 during his 12-game hitting streak and has reached base in a staggering 22 consecutive contests. The 28-year-old has driven in at least one run in each of his last seven outings, helping Arizona to a 5-2 mark in that stretch. The Diamondbacks have slugged nine home runs in the series while Philadelphia's troubles have been amplified by both the long ball and miscues -- it has been taken deep 20 times and committed 10 errors in the last five outings, all losses. The Phillies (30-39) have been outscored 75-28 en route to dropping nine of their last 10 contests and 22 of 28 overall, causing the team to fall from a season-best seven games over .500 on May 18 (24-17) to a campaign-worst nine games under that bar.
TV: 1:35 p.m. ET, FSN Arizona, CSN Philadelphia
PITCHING MATCHUP: Diamondbacks RH Archie Bradley (2-3, 5.66 ERA) vs. Phillies RH Zach Eflin (0-1, 27.00)
Bradley was undone by the home-run ball for the second straight outing and suffered his third consecutive loss on Tuesday after being taken deep a career-high three times in a 7-4 setback to the Los Angeles Dodgers. The 23-year-old has shown positives despite the end result, as Bradley has struck out nine in his last outing and 33 over his last four. Bradley will look to provide a bit of payback versus Philadelphia, against which he permitted four runs and three walks in just two innings to suffer his first career loss on May 16, 2015.
Eflin's major-league debut was a disastrous one as the 22-year-old allowed nine runs on as many hits in 2 2/3 innings in Tuesday's 11-3 setback to Toronto. One of the Phillies' top prospects, Eflin was taken deep on three occasions, with American League MVP Josh Donaldson's grand slam providing the fatal blow in a six-run third inning. The 6-foot-6 Eflin will look to show the form that helped him to a 5-2 mark with a 2.90 ERA and 0.88 WHIP at the time of his recall from Triple-A Lehigh Valley.
WALK-OFFS
1. Arizona SS Nick Ahmed is 4-for-9 with a homer and two runs scored in this series after going 0-for-9 with three strikeouts in his previous three games.
2. Philadelphia SS Freddy Galvis' June swoon continued as he went 0-for-3 on Saturday to drop to 6-for-60 with 16 strikeouts in the month.
3. Diamondbacks 3B Jake Lamb is 9-for-23 with two homers and six RBIs in his last seven games, including 5-for-8 with one HR and two runs scored in this series.