Game: Philadelphia Phillies at Washington Nationals
Time: 7:05 p.m. ET
Starting Pitchers: Matt Moore vs. Patrick Corbin
Odds: Phillies +100, Nationals -108
If the Philadelphia Phillies have been anything since the All-Star break, they have been consistently inconsistent. In early August, the Phillies won eight in a row and appeared ready to take command of the NL East. More recently, they won two of ten games to drop into third place in the division. Now, Philly has won four straight to climb back into second place in the division and stay alive in the NL wild-card race.
Philadelphia has scored seven runs in each of its last five games. The last four, of course, were wins. The fifth was an 8-7 loss to Arizona. Tonight, the Phillies take on Washington, who they beat 7-4 last night. The Nationals are currently 55-75 and just a half-game ahead of NL East last-place Miami.
Expect another high-scoring affair tonight as the pitching matchup leaves much to be desired. The Phillies will go with left-hander Matt Moore who has taken turns in the bullpen and as a starter all season long. He has never really found a groove and his stats show that. Moore is 2-4 for the season with an ERA of 6.12. He’s been particularly bad since the All-Star break where his ERA jumps to 6.82 over 33 innings.
Moore has pitched against Washington once this season. It didn’t go all that well. In four innings, Moore gave up seven hits and walked two which led to six runs. Washington’s lineup won’t scare many pitchers, but it should scare Moore. The Nationals rank seventh in on-base percentage and 12th in OPS against left-handed pitchers.
Washington will start Patrick Corbin whose career has taken a downturn since 2018, his best season. That year, Corbin’s strikeout rate was 30.8 percent and he had an ERA of 3.15. These days, Corbin is 7-13 with an astronomical ERA of 6.09. Corbin’s best pitch had been his slider, but it hasn’t been as effective as in previous years. He has had to rely on the fastball which opposing batters are hitting at a .325 clip.
The Phillies lost Rhys Hoskins for the season, but they are still first in on-base percentage and OPS when facing left-handed pitchers. Bryce Harper is taking up some of the slack lost by Hoskins. He homered last night to bring his season total to 26 and his season batting average is up to .302. Jean Segura is batting .294 and Andrew McCutchen has 21 homers. Corbin will not have an easy time tonight.
Remember, both of these lineups excel against left-handed pitchers. In Corbin’s last nine starts, the Over has hit seven times. He has pitched three times against Philadelphia this season. In two of those games, the total went Over. The total for tonight’s game is 9 though it is creeping upward and is at 9.5 at several sportsbooks. In their last five games, the total in Philadelphia’s games has been Under 9 just once.