Phillies at Brewers
The Philadelphia Phillies can match a season high with their third straight victory when they visit the Milwaukee Brewers on Saturday. The Phillies took Friday’s series opener 5-2 behind a pair of home runs from Maikel Franco and a solid outing from Aaron Nola.
Philadelphia, which had lost seven straight meetings with Milwaukee, has a chance to climb back to the .500 mark for the season on Saturday. The Phillies’ offense has posted double-digit hits in each of the last two games and scored more than three runs in back-to-back contests after failing to surpass three in any of their previous nine outings. The Brewers, meanwhile, have scored a total of three runs in their last two games and could be challenged by veteran Charlie Morton, who has been effective of late. Milwaukee will counter with Chase Anderson, who is aiming to rebound from his worst start of the young season.
TV: 7:10 p.m. ET, CSN (Philadelphia), FSN Wisconsin (Milwaukee)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Phillies RH Charlie Morton (1-1, 3.86 ERA) vs. Brewers RH Chase Anderson (1-1, 2.25)
Morton has been terrific in his last two starts, allowing one run over 12 2/3 innings. Among the Brewers with good career numbers against Morton are Ryan Braun (.348 average in 23 at-bats), Martin Maldonado and Aaron Hill -- each 4-for-7. Morton has been particularly effective against right-handed hitters this season (5-for-28, no extra-base hits).
Anderson dazzled in his first two starts of 2016, allowing only three runs - all unearned - in 11 innings. He came back to reality in his last outing, yielding five runs and 11 hits in five innings as he gave up his first two home runs of the year. Andres Blanco is the only Phillie who has ever homered against Anderson, who has surrendered six runs in 10 1/3 innings in two previous starts versus Philadelphia.
WALK-OFFS
1. The Brewers have won only two games all season in which they’ve scored fewer than six runs.
2. Milwaukee C Jonathan Lucroy currently has a seven-game hitting streak but enters Saturday 1-for-16 against Morton.
3. Before going 3-for-4 with two home runs Friday, Franco had been 3-for-29 with no homers over his previous seven games.