Nationals at Phillies
Not having Bryce Harper in the middle of the lineup hasn't hurt the Washington Nationals offense this weekend. The Nationals will try to ride the hot bats of Ryan Zimmerman and Anthony Rendon to a series sweep when they visit the Philadelphia Phillies in the finale of a three-game series on Sunday.
Harper missed the first two games of the series with a groin strain and remains day-to-day, but Rendon and Zimmerman picked up the slack by each homering in both of the first two contests to lead Washington to a pair of wins. Zimmerman is 5-for-9 in the series and recorded multiple hits in eight of his last nine games during a 13-game hitting streak that raised his batting average (.435) and RBI (34) totals to major-league bests and boosted his home run total to an NL-high 13. Trying to slow Zimmerman and company on Sunday for the Phillies will be Jeremy Hellickson, who is coming off his worst start of the season, while the Nationals counter with right-hander Tanner Roark. Philadelphia has dropped five games in a row and eight of its last nine, and watched the offense slump to two runs in each of the first two games of the series.
TV: 2:35 p.m. ET, MASN 2 (Washington), CSN Philadelphia
PITCHING MATCHUP: Nationals RH Tanner Roark (3-1, 4.04 ERA) vs. Phillies RH Jeremy Hellickson (4-1, 3.18)
Roark threw a career-high 125 pitches on Tuesday but only made it through six innings against Arizona while yielding four runs in his first loss of the season. The 30-year-old yielded three or fewer earned runs in each of his first five starts but lasted more than six innings in just two of those turns. His longest turn came against the Phillies on April 15, when the Illinois native scattered two runs and four hits across seven frames without factoring in the decision.
Hellickson allowed two or fewer runs in each of his first five starts but ran into some trouble at the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday, when he was knocked around for six runs and eight hits in four innings to suffer his first loss. The 30-year-old yielded three home runs to the Cubs after allowing a total of two in the first five starts. Hellickson had no trouble in two starts against Washington last month, surrendering a total of two runs and five hits in 12 innings.
WALK-OFFS
1. Nationals SS Trea Turner is 0-for-8 with four strikeouts in the series.
2. Philadelphia OF Aaron Altherr (wrist) sat out Saturday and is day-to-day.
3. Washington 2B Daniel Murphy is RBI-less in the last four games but still ranks second behind Zimmerman in the NL with 28, one ahead of Harper.