The Philadelphia Phillies will play the Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday in the final installment of this three game series in Arizona.
On Monday, the Phillies blew a 9th inning lead against the Diamondbacks and lost the game 2-3 after 14 innings on a walk off home run by David Peralta. The defeat dropped the Phillies to 63-49 on the season but they still have a 1.5 game lead over the Atlanta Braves in the National League East team standings.
The win was a huge one for the Arizona Diamondbacks who are trying to hold off the challenge of Los Angeles Dodgers and the Colorado Rockies in the National League West team standings. As of this writing, the 63-51 Diamondbacks are just 0.5 game ahead of the Dodgers and 2 games on top of the Rockies.
Rhys Hoskins is Philadelphia’s leader in home runs (22) and RBIs (72) this season. The 25 year old left fielder has a batting average of .261 this season. Hoskins went 0-4 during Monday’s loss to the Diamondbacks. Maikel Franco, who leads the team in batting average at .278, went 2-5 on Monday.
For the Phillies, it will be right hander Vince Velasquez who will start at the mound. The 26 year old Velasquez has a record of 8-8 with an ERA of 3.8 and WHIP of 1.2 in 21 games started this season. Velasquez has gotten the win in his last three decisions and is coming off an August 3 victory over the Marlins where he tossed 6.1 scoreless innings with just two hits, one walk and seven strikeouts.
Velasquez threw 85 pitches, 66 of which were strikes, in that opener against Miami before exiting in the 7th inning. He has hurled the ball well in his last four starts as he’s given up just two runs while striking out 21 in a total of 24.1 innings pitched. The right hander has a total of 129 punchouts in 113.2 innings this season, good for 10th best in the National League.
Patrick Corbin gets the nod to start on top of the hill for the Diamondbacks in this game. The 29 year old left handed pitcher has started 23 games this season and has a record of 8-4 with an ERA of 3.31 and a WHP of 1.06. Corbin allowed three runs on seven hits and no walks while striking out eight batters over six innings pitched during the Diamondbacks’ 6-3 win over San Francisco on August 4th.
Although Corbin needed to throw 102 pitches (including 70 strikes) to make it through six innings, he didn’t give up an extra base hit during the contest. The lefty now has 12 good starts this season and is currently holding opposing batters to a .216 batting average. Corbin’s 174 strikeouts is 6th most in the Majors and 2nd most in the National League. Corbin is in a groove right now as he has lost just once in his last 8 starts.
Paul Goldschmidt leads the Diamondbacks on the season with 24 homers and 60 RBIs while batting at a .274 average per game. David Peralta is their top hitter at .298 batting average. Peralta went 4-7 with two solo home runs against the Phillies on Monday. He now has a personal best 19 homers this season for the Diamondbacks.
The trends aren’t in favor of Vince Velasquez on Wednesday. The Phillies are just 1-4 in Velazquez’s last 5 starts against an opponent with a winning record. They are also just 2-8 with Velasquez starting with four games rest, 1-5 in his last Wednesday starts and 0-4 in his last four starts away from home.
Meanwhile, the Diamondbacks are 4-0 in their last four games at home against a right handed starter and 5-0 overall against right handers. More impressively, they have been 6-1 in their last seven games against opponents from the National League East and 4-1 in their last 5 games against opponents with a winning record.
This should be a good game with Velasquez and Corbin on top of the hill and it could go down to a duel between the two. Corbin should pitch well early and the Diamondbacks will take an early lead before shutting down the Philadelphia batters in the late innings to hold on for the victory. We’re picking the Arizona Diamondbacks to beat the Philadelphia Phillies on 8/8/18.
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