Braves at Phillies
A difficult June swoon may have diffused the Philadelphia Phillies’ early-season momentum, but Peter Bourjos has led his team’s offensive renaissance over the past two weeks. Philadelphia hosts the Atlanta Braves in the middle contest of a three-game series Tuesday, one day after Bourjos extended his hitting streak to a career-best 13 games as the Phillies cruised to an 8-2 victory in the series opener to win for the sixth time in seven contests.
Bourjos went 3-for-3 on Monday and is hitting .480 during his streak, and the Phillies lead the majors with a .321 batting average while going 8-5 in their last 13 contests. Atlanta lost for the eighth time in 11 games and has scored fewer than four runs six times in that span, dropping its major league-worst record to 28-56. Erick Aybar hit his first homer of the year and continues to rebound after an awful start to his season, hitting .319 in 19 games since coming off the disabled list on June 12. The Braves are 5-42 when allowing four or more runs.
TV: 7:05 p.m. ET, FSN Southeast (Atlanta), CSN Philadelphia
PITCHING MATCHUP: Braves RH Mike Foltynewicz (2-2, 3.72 ERA) vs. Phillies RH Zach Eflin (0-2, 5.75)
A rain delay limited Foltynewicz’s return from the disabled list on Thursday to three innings, during which he allowed three runs - two earned - and two hits in his first major-league start since May 30 due to bone spurs in his right elbow. The 24-year-old has shown the command of his high-90s fastball that has Atlanta thinking he could become a top-of-the-rotation starter, increasing his ground-ball rate to nearly 40 percent while improving his strikeouts-to-walk ratio to 3:1. Opponents are batting .259 against Foltynewicz after hitting him at a .313 clip last season.
Eflin has pitched well in three starts since getting drilled for eight earned runs over 2 2/3 innings in his major-league debut on June 14. He lasted six frames in each of his last two starts - no-decisions against San Francisco on June 24 (no earned runs) and Arizona on Wednesday (three earned runs, six hits) - and did not walk a batter in either outing. The 22-year-old showed improved efficiency with his curveball at Triple-A earlier this season, posting a 2.90 ERA and a 5:1 strikeouts-to-walks ratio before being promoted.
WALK-OFFS
1. Atlanta manager Brian Snitker elected Monday to give CF Ender Inciarte one more day of rest for a groin injury he suffered on Friday.
2. Bourjos is hitting .427 since June 1 – tops in the majors – while Atlanta 1B Freddie Freeman is batting .355 with 22 extra-base hits in the same span.
3. Philadelphia C Cameron Rupp extended his hitting streak to 10 games Monday and is 7-for-19 in five games against the Braves this season.