Phillies (53-80) at Mets (73-59)
7:10 p.m. on CSN
The streak is over at last. The Phillies have finally beaten the New York Mets.
The Phils ended a 10-game losing streak to the Mets with a 14-8 win last night at Citi Field (see story). They had lost 13 of their previous 14 meetings with the Mets this season, which is the worst skid for one team against another team since the Pirates lost 14 of 15 to the Brewers in 2008.
Pete Mackanin's club looks to make it two in a row tonight, and they have the right guy on the mound to start a little winning streak. Here are four more things to note heading into Wednesday's series finale:
Nola nearing the end?
Between Double A, Triple A and the majors, Aaron Nola has pitched 159 innings this season. Earlier in the summer, GM Ruben Amaro Jr. threw out 170 as a possible 2015 innings limit for Nola. Keep in mind this is his first full pro season.
Thing is, Nola's last two outings have been a breeze. He's averaged 12.4 pitches per inning in his last two starts and allowed just one run on five hits in 15 innings.
Those games, though, were against NL bottom-feeders Miami and San Diego. And one thing both the Marlins' and Padres' lineups lack is a powerful threat from the left side. Why does that matter? Because right-handed hitters have a .191 batting average in 110 at-bats against Nola. Lefties have hit .250.
MLB
The command splits for Nola really stick out. Against righties, he has 32 strikeouts and nine walks. Against lefties, he has eight strikeouts and five walks. Lefties also have as many extra-base hits against him as righties in 46 fewer plate appearances.
The Mets' red-hot offense will be a great test for Nola. The Mets set a franchise record in August in home runs and came four runs shy of a team record for runs in a month.
Nola, 5-1 with a 3.26 ERA in eight starts with the Phillies, has not yet faced the Mets. He and his mound opponent tonight are the starters from each side that did not factor into last week's four-game series between the two teams.
Harvey on the hill
While Jacob deGrom has supplanted Matt Harvey as the Mets' No. 1 starter, Harvey is still having a dominant summer.
The hard-throwing right-hander has a 0.52 ERA in his last five starts, allowing two runs in 34⅔ innings. Harvey has allowed just one home run and 20 hits over that span and lowered his ERA from 3.02 to 2.48.
The Phillies have not seen Harvey (11-7) since the early part of the season. He started against them on April 14 at Citizens Bank Park and on May 8 at Citi Field and allowed three runs in six innings both times. The Mets won the first game and lost the second.
Chase Utley, now in L.A., homered twice off Harvey in that first game. Current Phillies have fared much worse against him, hitting a collective .127 in 55 at-bats with three walks and 26 strikeouts.
Ryan Howard is 3 for 13 off Harvey with a homer, four RBIs and eight Ks. Domonic Brown is 0 for 10 with seven strikeouts, so don't expect to see him in Wednesday night's lineup.
Ruf stuff
Darin Ruf had the best night of his big-league career Tuesday, going 3 for 5 with a homer and six RBIs. It continued his unconscious efforts against left-handed pitchers.
Ruf went 2 for 3 against Mets lefty starter Jon Niese to build his season line against lefties to .377/.438/.623 with five homers and four doubles in 77 at-bats. The guy has been Miguel Cabrera against lefties, but Ruf's been as bad against righties as Howard has against southpaws.
For his career, Ruf now owns a .296 batting average and .382 OBP against lefties with an extra-base hit every 8.6 plate appearances.
This and that
• Darnell Sweeney is 5 for 19 (.263) as a Phillie, but three of the hits went for extra bases, including two homers. He's also driven in six runs, scored five times and walked five times. Doing it all.
• Andres Blanco had another double Tuesday night. The 31-year-old utilityman is having a career year, hitting .304/.378/.528 with a career-high 24 extra-base hits. In 161 at-bats, Blanco has 17 doubles, two triples and five homers. Blanco, a part-time player, has one fewer extra-base hit this season than Brandon Phillips, the same number as Yonder Alonso and Christian Yelich, one more than Starlin Castro and two more than Chase Utley. Blanco even has more XBH than Hunter Pence in 41 fewer plate appearances than the Giants' outfielder.
• Ken Giles is well-rested. He's pitched just twice in the last 10 days.
• Two straight wins by the Marlins have pushed them past the Phillies, who are back in baseball's basement, a game worse than Miami and Colorado, 1½ games behind Atlanta and two back of Cincinnati.