Phillies at Cardinals
Philadelphia Phillies right-hander Aaron Nola can become the second pitcher in the National League to reach seven victories when he takes the mound against the host St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday afternoon in the finale of a four-game series. Nola looks to win his sixth consecutive outing and also is riding a streak of seven straight quality starts.
The one player on the Phillies who has been more consistent than Nola is center fielder Odubel Herrera, who belted a two-run homer and drove in three runs in Saturday's 7-6 victory to extend his on-base streak to 45 games -- the fourth-longest in franchise history. Scott Kingery tripled in the tying run and scored the winning tally on Jorge Alfaro's pinch-hit single to lift Philadelphia to its eighth win in the last 10 games. Greg Holland, who amassed 166 saves over the four previous seasons with Kansas City and Colorado, was victimized for the winning rally as his ERA ballooned to 7.30. Tommy Pham is 5-for-8 with four runs scored in the past two days for St. Louis, which has dropped seven of 11 since opening May with a five-game winning streak.
TV: 2:15 p.m. ET, NBCS Philadelphia, FS Midwest (St. Louis)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Phillies RH Aaron Nola (6-1, 1.99 ERA) vs. Cardinals RH Jack Flaherty (0-1, 2.87)
Nola allowed a season-high nine hits over six innings last time out but limited the damage to one run in beating the Mets to win his fifth start in a row. During the winning streak, he has permitted a combined seven runs while striking out 36 batters and walking only four. Marcell Ozuna is 6-for-19 with two homers off Nola, who is 2-1 with a 1.86 ERA in three career starts against St. Louis.
Flaherty remains in search of his first major league victory as he makes his fourth start of the season and first at home this year. Winless in six appearances a year ago, the 2014 first-round draft pick has allowed five runs in his three starts this season but has nothing to show for it. Flaherty settled for a no-decision last time out at Minnesota after tossing 5 2/3 innings of one-run ball.
WALK-OFFS
1. Herrera, who has six RBIs in the series, is 11 shy of Mike Schmidt's franchise-record, 56-game on-base streak.
2. Cardinals LF Tyler O'Neill belted his first major league homer Saturday.
3. Kingery's triple Saturday was his extra-base hit since April 30.