Gamethread 5/31: Phillies at Reds

After a disheartening week in Florida, the Phillies have a chance to redeem themselves with a three-game set in Cincinnati. The Phils may be 5-10 in their last fifteen games, but they’re still only 4 games back in the NL East, so a series win against the Reds could get them right back in the race. Besides, Jacob deGrom is pitching tonight, so the Mets are all but guaranteed to lose in a one-run game.

Here’s the lineup for your Philadelphia Phillies:

Joe Girardi is running out pretty much the same lineup as yesterday, except Vince Velasquez is batting ninth instead of Andrew Knapp. In other words, it’s a slightly better lineup. Segura, Hoskins, and Miller have all been tearing the cover off the ball as of late, so as long as the rest of the team can get on base enough for those two to drive in some runs, the Phillies will have a chance to score.

They’ll be facing Wade Miley, who’s in the middle of his best season in ten years. For what it’s worth, Miley has been quite good against the Phillies in his career, albeit in just four games from 2012-2015. In those four starts, he pitched 26 innings with a 3.46 ERA. His tOPS+ against the Phillies is 57, which means he’s been much better against them than most other teams.

Here’s the Reds lineup that Vince Velasquez will be facing in his seventh start of the year:

The Phillies will catch a bit of a break, since the Reds are giving Jesse Winker the day off. As long as Vince Velasquez can pitch around Nick Castellanos, the Reds offense shouldn’t pose too much of a threat. That being said, this lineup will get a lot scarier if Eugenio Suarez can remember how to hit like he did from 2017-2020.

The game starts at 2:10 this afternoon. Let’s talk about it.