Gamethread 5/13: Phillies at Nationals

After losing four road series, and tying one, the Phillies finally have their first away series win of the season.

They can now go for a sweep, which they last accomplished on the road in late August 2020, a series limited to two games when the teams agreed not to play the third game amid nationwide protests. The last time they swept a three-game series on the road was in September 2019, in Atlanta.

Zach Eflin takes the mound, and the lineup behind him includes Odubel Herrera moving up to sixth, and Nick Maton filling in for Didi Gregorius.

Andrew Knapp would be catching anyway with Eflin pitching, but it’s worth noting that J.T. Realmuto went on the Covid list today, and Rafael Marchan was called up.

For the Nationals, Patrick Corbin starts and bats 8th, as did Jon Lester last night (they’ve only batted the pitcher 8th two other times this season).

Corbin comes into today with a 7.36 ERA. Amazingly, that’s better than either his FIP (7.80), or his expected ERA based on quality of contact (8.06).