The Philadelphia Phillies are on the verge of a second consecutive three-game sweep.
The Phillies defeated the Chicago White Sox 9-5 on Saturday and can record the sweep with a win when the teams battle in the series finale on Sunday afternoon in Philadelphia.
The Phillies entered this series after three straight victories over the Colorado Rockies.
Philadelphia will hand the ball to right-hander Aaron Nola (2-1, 3.47 ERA), who will have a tough act to follow after Zach Wheeler flirted with a no-hitter on Saturday.
The White Sox will turn to right-hander Nick Nastrini (0-1, 3.60 ERA) on the mound.
Wheeler threw 7 1/3 no-hit innings and departed after giving up just one hit in that span, and Brandon Marsh homered and drove in two runs in the win Saturday. The offense was stellar up and down the lineup as Nick Castellanos had three hits and two RBIs, Trea Turner added two hits and two RBIs, and Bryce Harper contributed two hits and an RBI.
Johan Rojas also had three hits in the win.
The Phillies moved five games above .500 this early in the season for the first time since April 17, 2019.
“If we hit, we’re going to be in good shape because these guys are going to take care of business on the bump,” Marsh said on a postgame interview on NBC Sports Philadelphia.
Castellanos’ three hits included a triple for his first extra-base hit of the season.
Phillies manager Rob Thomson was encouraged with the quality of Castellanos’ at-bats after a tough start.
“He’s been swinging inside the ball and hitting fly balls to right,” Thomson said. “It was really good to see him break out.”
If Nola is going to meet the bar set by Wheeler, he has to pitch the way he did in his previous outing. Against the Rockies last Monday, Nola gave up four hits and one run with nine strikeouts and one walk over 7 1/3 innings. He did not factor into the decision as the Phillies won 2-1 in 10 innings.
“I felt good,” Nola said. “I got a little sweat going on. I probably felt better tonight than I had in previous starts.”
Nola is 1-0 with a 1.29 ERA in one career start against the White Sox.
The White Sox will look to salvage the final game of this series in what already has been a lost season.
Despite scoring five runs in the ninth inning Saturday, the White Sox still fell to 3-17 for the worst 20-game start in franchise history.
Korey Lee hit a two-run double and a single and Dominic Fletcher added an RBI double for the White Sox. Eloy Jimenez added two hits and an RBI.
The offense came way too late to keep the White Sox from losing for the eighth time in nine games.
“This is the major leagues. You gotta execute,” White Sox manager Pedro Grifol said. “I’m not going to sit here and make excuses for that.”
“I understand in today’s game, expectations are always high, no matter who it is,” reliever Dominic Leone added. “And you always want to see results. After the work we did in spring training, even us, we thought it would translate faster. But it just hasn’t.”
Nastrini will make the second start of his career. In his debut, he gave up three hits and two runs in five innings against the Kansas City Royals last Monday. He struck out five and walked two but took the loss in the 2-0 defeat.
“I’ve got to focus on who we are playing next,” Nastrini said. “So I’ve got to keep working and doing my job every single day. That’s what I’m getting paid to do, that’s what I’m here to do — get better every single day and try to prepare, bring some energy into the clubhouse and dugout and try to win ballgames.”
Paul DeJong was hit on the left elbow and left Saturday’s game in the fifth inning. His status is unclear for Sunday.
–Field Level Media
