Phillies at Brewers
The Milwaukee Brewers are one of baseball's feel-good stories this season while the Philadelphia Phillies have been a horrific read for the majority of 2017. Winners of nine of their last 11, the National League Central-leading Brewers aim to continue their surge as they return from the All-Star break on Friday to host the Phillies in the opener of a three-game series.
Stephen Vogt has added some punch since being acquired off waivers from Oakland, belting his fourth homer with Milwaukee in Sunday's 5-3 victory over the New York Yankees. "We like where we're at," Vogt told reporters. "I think we're all excited to have the break, but excited to come back and get it going again and make a push." While the Brewers are interested in fending off the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis, Philadelphia is doing its best to look at the rare positives despite being saddled with the majors' worst record at 29-58. "A lot of good things have come up in this first half," manager Pete Mackanin told reporters. "It's not all doom and gloom. These are things we've got to take hold of and run with and try to keep improving."
TV: 8:10 p.m. ET, CSN Philadelphia, FSN Wisconsin (Milwaukee)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Phillies RH Nick Pivetta (2-4, 4.73 ERA) vs. Brewers RH Zach Davies (10-4, 4.90)
Pivetta continues to struggle with home runs as the 24-year-old British Columbia native was taken deep three times in a no-decision versus San Diego last Friday. Pivetta has surrendered seven homers in his last four outings and 12 in 11 trips to the mound. A positive was that he did not walk a batter during his seven-inning start against the Padres after issuing at least three free passes in six of his previous eight games.
Davies won his third straight start and improved to 5-1 in his last seven outings on July 6 after yielding two runs on five hits in six innings of an 11-2 rout of the Chicago Cubs. "Personally, (10 wins is) something that kind of makes you happy," the 24-year-old told reporters. "There are personal goals that you want to hit, but at the same time, we want to play in October." Davies struggled in his lone encounter versus Philadelphia, taking the loss after permitting four runs on nine hits in six innings of a 5-2 setback on April 22, 2016.
WALK-OFFS
1. Milwaukee has homered in six consecutive contests and 24 of its last 26.
2. Philadelphia SS Freddy Galvis has hit safely in seven of nine games this month, recording three homers and six RBIs in the process.
3. Brewers 3B Travis Shaw is batting .378 in the first inning this season with five homers and 20 RBIs.