Gamethread 8/15: Reds at Phillies

We’ve got a rubber match today, folks. The Phillies haven’t actually played a rubber match in quite a while (not since July 11 in Boston), and by my count the Phillies are 5-6 this season in rubber matches. A win today will give the Phillies an even record in rubber match games, but more importantly, it will guarantee that they remain atop the NL East for at least one more day.

Aaron Nola is starting this afternoon, and ideally he’ll be able to pick up where he left off against the Dodgers on Tuesday night. Didi Gregorius will hit clean-up for the second day in a row, and hopefully he’ll perform better in that spot than he did on Saturday (0-for-4 with 2 strikeouts).

Here’s the Cincinnati lineup the Phillies will be up against. Fingers crossed that the Phillies pitching can silence Joey Votto’s bat like they did yesterday. For what it’s worth, Votto has hit just .133 against Nola in 15 career at-bats.

The game starts today at 1:05 pm, which is also the start time for the Braves game against the Nationals. Here are the lineups for that game in Washington if you’re interested:

Let’s go Phillies, and let’s go Nationals, too, I guess. Thirty minutes ‘til game time.