News » Dave Martinez had nine RBIs in his first seven

Aaron Nola and the Philadelphia Phillies will face the Washington Nationals for the final time of the 2018 season Wednesday night at Citizens Bank Park.Nola http://www.metsfanproshop.com/authentic-tom-seaver-jersey , a Cy Young candidate, is looking for his fourth win in five tries against the Phillies’ divisional foe this season. Stephen Strasburg (7-7, 4.04 ERA) will be on the mound for Washington.The scuffling Phillies are coming off one of their most disheartening days of the season. They were swept by the Nationals in a Tuesday doubleheader and blew a three-run lead in the ninth inning of the nightcap. Juan Soto hit a pair of homers in the Nationals’ 7-6 win.Article continues below ...The Phillies (74-70) are 2-8 in their last 10 games, 11-22 since Aug. 5 and are six games back of Atlanta.The Nationals — who are 73-73 and 7 1/2 games back of Atlanta — have already captured the season series against Philadelphia, winning 10 of the first 18 games.Nola (16-4, 2.29) has been great against nearly every team he’s faced this season. He’s been dominant against the Nationals.The 25-year-old righty is 3-0 with a 1.26 ERA, 0.907 WHIP and 9.4 K/9 rate in four starts against the Nationals. That includes a pair of August starts in which Nola out-pitched two-time reigning National League Cy Young winner Max Scherzer.Nola, who is 4-4 with a 3.38 ERA in 14 career starts against the Nationals Asdrubal Cabrera Jersey , has posted a 4.97 ERA in his first two starts of September, but he has 19 strikeouts in 12 2/3 innings this month. He held the New York Mets to three runs on three hits and struck out eight in seven innings last Saturday.Strasburg threw 5 2/3 innings against the Chicago Cubs in his last start. He gave up two earned runs on six hits and three walks while striking out six. It was Strasburg’s fourth start after spending a month on the disabled list with a pinched nerve in his neck.“It’s getting better,” Strasburg told MLB.com. “Velocity isn’t quite there just yet, but the life is there so I think that’s a positive. I just keep grinding, just keep working at it, and it seems like there are stretches when it feels better and there are stretches when it doesn’t feel as consistent, but I think anybody can say the same thing.”The righty has a 3.06 ERA over his last three starts. That stretch includes his last win, which came when he tossed six innings against the Phillies on Aug. 27.Strasburg has had a lot of success against the Phillies in his career. He’s 11-2 with a 2.50 ERA and 0.914 WHIP in 23 career starts against the franchise http://www.metsfanproshop.com/authentic-tug-mcgraw-jersey , and Strasburg has a 1.62 career ERA in nine appearances at Citizens Bank Park.Phillies first baseman Justin Bour has hit Strasburg better than anyone in the Phillies lineup. Bour is 8-for-24 with two homers, seven RBIs and a 1.054 OPS lifetime off Strasburg. TORONTO — The Philadelphia Phillies need a victory Sunday afternoon against the Toronto Blue Jays at the Rogers Centre.They need the win to avoid a three-game sweep at the hands of the Blue Jays, who are dawdling in fourth place in the American League East.More important, they must reverse a recent trend that threatens their playoff hopes.Article continues below ...They let a 5-0 lead get away Saturday afternoon and lost 8-6 to the Blue Jays on a three-run double in the bottom of the eighth inning by Aledmys Diaz.The Phillies, who entered Saturday three games behind the first-place Atlanta Braves in the National League East, have lost six of their past seven games.“We’re still in a good position to strike,” Phillies manager Gabe Kapler said.The Blue Jays have won five in a row for the first time this season and hold a 4-1 lead in the season series against the Phillies.The Phillies (69-60) will start right-hander Vince Velasquez (8-9, 4.06 ERA) Sunday and the Blue Jays (60-69) will counter with right-hander Marco Estrada (7-9 Juan Lagares Jersey , 4.88).Velasquez has never faced the Blue Jays in the regular season, although he has pitched against them in spring training.Estrada has not pitched against the Phillies in the regular season this year, but in 11 career games (five starts) against them he is 2-1 with a 5.45 ERA.The Phillies have struggled on the road this season, going 28-48 (41-21 at home) and 5-14 in their past 19 games.“I think we maintain the same poise that we have in rough stretches all season,” Kapler said. “I think we’ve had stretches similar to this one. This one has been undoubtedly difficult. but we want to remind our guys how tough we are and how resilient we are, how teams have rough stretches and this by no means does this mean we don’t have the ability to win the National League East.“I think one of the things that we can focus on is the reason this one may be a little bit more challenging is because it takes more energy to be resilient when you’re closer to the end. So it just means that we’re going to need to dig real deep and get that last drop of energy. I believe we have it in us.”While Lourdes Gurriel Jr. was 0-for-3 with a walk Saturday to end his hitting streak at 12 games, the home run streak of Kendrys Morales is alive. He has hit home runs in six consecutive games (for a total of seven) that matches the club record set in 2001 by Jose Cruz Jr.The streak by Morales equals the longest in the majors this season set by Matt Carpenter of the St. Louis Cardinals on July 14-21.Morales also has a nine-game hitting streak. His batting is .516 (16-for-31) with seven homers and 13 RBIs.“He’s been on a nice little roll now for a while, a good while http://www.metsfanproshop.com/authentic-travis-d_arnaud-jersey ,” Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. “Early in the year, he was chasing a lot of breaking balls, off-speed pitches down in the dirt, down in the zone — that’s what was getting him into trouble. He’s laying off those now and he’s even hitting breaking balls.”Outfielder Billy McKinney hit a two-run homer Saturday and has three homers in his first seven games from the Blue Jays after being called up from Triple-A Buffalo. He was part of the deal that sent left-hander J.A. Happ to the New York Yankees on July 26.McKinney is the first player to combine three homers and nine RBIs in his first seven games with the Blue Jays. Seven others have hit three or more homers in their first seven games with Toronto and Dave Martinez had nine RBIs in his first seven games with the Blue Jays in 2000.