Phillies (22-43) at Orioles (32-31)
7:05 p.m. on CSN
The Phillies look to avoid their first winless road trip of eight games or longer in franchise history tonight when they finish up the trip at Camden Yards in Baltimore.
The Phils have been shut out three times in their last four losses and have scored a grand total of seven runs in their last six games.
The bats desperately need to break out tonight, and perhaps they can against a struggling right-hander.
Streaking the wrong way
The Phillies have lost seven in a row. They've lost 10 of 11. They've lost 17 of 20. They've lost 20 of 25.
They've also dropped 11 consecutive games on the road. Their last road win was on May 23, the afternoon they pounded Stephen Strasburg at Nationals Park. That was also the same date a Phillies starting pitcher last earned a victory.
Teeing up Tillman
Orioles 6-foot-5 righty Chris Tillman had impressive years in 2013 and 2014 but has stunk it up in 2015 to the tune of a 4-7 record, 5.68 ERA and 1.58 WHIP.
MLB
Last season, Tillman set career-bests in innings (207⅓) and ERA (3.34) en route to a 13-6 record in 34 starts. In 33 starts the year before, he went 16-7 with a 3.71 ERA. His WHIP over that two-year span was a solid 1.23.
This season, the 27-year-old hasn't been able to command his pitches, posting an opponents' batting line of .282/.367/.448. Walks have been a problem — he's issued 33 in just 65 innings, with 46 strikeouts.
Like tonight's counterpart, Jerome Williams, Tillman has been hit harder by right-handed hitters than opposite-handed hitters. Righties are batting .292 with a .909 OPS against Tillman.
He's particularly scuffled at hitter-friendly Camden Yards, going 1-4 with a 7.28 ERA in six starts.
Tillman, who has never faced the Phillies, throws five pitches: a four-seam fastball and two-seam fastball that average 92-93 mph, a curveball in the mid-70s, a changeup in the mid-80s, and a cutter in the 89-90 mph range. The only pitch he's been able to retire hitters regularly with is the four-seamer. Opponents are hitting .394 this season against the curve, .304 against the cutter and .333 against the changeup.
The only active Phillies who have faced Tillman are Ben Revere (1-1 with a double) and Jeff Francoeur (0 for 4, two strikeouts).
Lacking quality or quantity
Williams (3-6, 5.71) has been unable to pitch effectively or deep into games lately. He has just one quality start in his last nine attempts, and on the season is averaging just 5⅓ innings per start.
His last time out, Williams allowed four runs in the first inning in Cincinnati, effectively ending the game for the Phillies just as it started. It mattered not that he shut the Reds out for the rest of his six-inning performance — the damage was done. A four-run deficit for a team that averages 3.03 per game is essentially insurmountable.
Williams enters with the highest opponents' batting average in MLB at .324, and only Arizona's Josh Collmenter has a higher opponents' OPS than Williams (.877).
It won't help tonight that Williams is facing a stacked American League lineup that has teed off against him in the past. Chris Davis, Adam Jones, Manny Machado, J.J. Hardy, Matt Wieters and Nolan Reimold have all homered against him, and current Orioles have a .901 OPS vs. Williams in 90 at-bats.
While Tillman has struggled mightily at home, Williams has done so on the road. He is 0-4 in six road starts with a 7.18 ERA, and he has just 13 strikeouts to 11 walks in 31⅓ road innings.
Maybe tonight is the night the streak ends or that Williams puts it all together, but the matchup certainly doesn't help.
Where's the pop?
The Phillies had just four hits Monday night, two of them from Cesar Hernandez, who also had their only extra-base hit of the night, a double off Wei-Yin Chen.
Last night was the Phillies' 23rd game this season with one or no extra-base hits. That's the most such games in baseball, one more than the Padres and Marlins, perhaps the two biggest disappointments in the National League.
The lack of power is glaring on this team when Ryan Howard and Maikel Franco aren't going well. Franco, who was ejected for the first time in his major-league career last night, is 0 for 7 the last two games.
Howard and Franco have combined for 17 of the Phillies' 36 home runs through 65 games. Removing them, the rest of the team has a .325 slugging percentage, which is almost unthinkable. To put that into context, Revere's career slugging percentage is .341.
This and that
• The Phillies are 20-39 in interleague play since 2012.
• With a .338 winning percentage, the Phillies are on pace to finish 54-108. It's been 70 years since they lost that many games in a season.
• The Phils have never needed Jonathan Papelbon less. He has 12 saves, and he has had just one opportunity for a save in their last 23 games. As bad as the Phillies have been throughout his entire time here, Papelbon had more saves at this juncture in each of the last three seasons. At this point in 2014, Papelbon had 15 saves. In 2013, he had 13. In 2012, he had 17.
• The Phillies are hitting .150 with runners in scoring position during the seven-game losing streak.