Phillies at Giants
Aaron Nola has quietly emerged as one of the elite pitchers in the game and goes for his 11th consecutive quality start when the Philadelphia Phillies open a four-game series at the San Francisco Giants on Thursday night. Philadelphia has the worst record in the majors and is last in the National League East while the Giants occupy the NL West basement.
Nola will look to stop a four-game skid by the Phillies, who started their road trip by getting swept in a three-game set at San Diego. Center fielder Odubel Herrera is riding a 17-game hitting streak but has missed the past two games with a hamstring injury and offered a "maybe" when asked if he could play this weekend. San Francisco closed out a six-game road trip by losing three of four, giving up an average of 6 1/2 runs during the 1-3 slide. Hunter Pence, who is 6-for-16 during a four-game hitting streak, has 16 homers in 46 career games against Philadelphia.
TV: 10:15 p.m. ET, CSN Philadelphia, NBCSN Bay Area (San Francisco)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Phillies RH Aaron Nola (9-7, 3.02 ERA) vs. Giants RH Jeff Samardzija (7-12, 4.74)
Nola has not allowed more than two runs in each of his last 10 starts, keeping the streak intact with seven dominant innings of one-run ball versus the New York Mets on Saturday to improve to 6-2 in that span. He made one career start against San Francisco last year, giving up five runs on 10 hits over 3 1/3 innings. Nola is winless in his last three road starts despite permitting six runs over 19 innings.
Samardzija had won three straight outings until a hard-luck loss at Washington last time out, turning in his fourth quality start in a row by yielding three runs and nine hits over six innings. He has not fared well against the Phillies, posting a 1-4 record and 8.67 ERA, but has not faced them since 2014. Samardzija has allowed only six homers in 11 starts at AT&T Park.
WALK-OFFS
1. Giants RHP Johnny Cueto, sidelined due to blisters, is scheduled for a bullpen session on Friday.
2. Philadelphia sent RHP Nick Pivetta, Wednesday's starter, to Triple-A Lehigh Valley.
3. Giants 2B Joe Panik joined teammate 1B Brandon Belt on the seven-day concussion list.