The Phillies return to action on Friday night in Boston for their first appearance at Fenway Park since May of 2013. The teams opened the 2015 season against each other at Citizens Bank Park, where the Red Sox took two out of three.
Since then, both clubs have completed a nose dive to the cellar of their respective divisions with plenty of changes throughout the organizations.
Here are a few things to keep an eye on when the Phillies and Red Sox square off tonight.
Pitching problems
Over the last week, the Phillies' pitchers have posted a 6.28 ERA with just 29 strikeouts in 43 innings. Remarkably, they won two games during this stretch, though no thanks to the bullpen.
In the last 10 games, the Phils' relievers have allowed 31 earned runs in 36 2/3 innings. A direct correlation to the bullpen difficulties is the starting pitchers’ inability to gobble up innings. Just twice in the last 10 games a starting pitcher has worked at least seven innings. It is of no coincidence that the bullpen has turned in just two scoreless outings over that same span.
Want to guess which games they were?
In other words, in the last eight games in which the starters didn’t go seven innings, the Phillies’ bullpen has allowed 31 earned runs in 33 2/3 innings. In those games, the Phils’ starters have averaged just 5 1/3 innings per game.
MLB
Red-hot Joe Kelly …
After a rough patch early in the season, the Red Sox right-hander has been one of the few bright spots this season. Since Aug. 1, Kelly has won six straight starts, posting a 2.68 ERA in that span.
But in his last five starts Kelly has posted a 1.69 ERA in 32 innings and has held the opposition to a remarkable 0 for 26 with runners in scoring position, racking up five ground-ball double plays.
Only Jeff Francoeur has faced Kelly in the majors, going 0 for 5 against him. However, Kelly started for Pawtucket in a rehab game against Triple A Lehigh Valley in July and faced Darin Ruf, Carlos Ruiz and Cesar Hernandez in a Single A game in 2011.
Pin-point accuracy
Morgan looks to win his third straight decision on Friday night after bouncing back from a rough outing against the Mets his last time out.
Morgan has pitched at least six innings in four of his last five outings and has not walked a batter since Aug. 8, a span covering four starts and 25 1/3 innings. Interestingly, Morgan walked 3.6 hitters per nine innings in 13 starts at Triple A this season, but just 1.9 per nine and just 14 in 67 innings in the majors.
Morgan has never faced any of the Red Sox in the big leagues, but opened the season allowing two runs in four innings against their Triple A affiliate, Pawtucket, in April. He has faced current Red Sox Jackie Bradley Jr., Blake Swihart, Xander Bogaerts and David Ortiz in the minors.
¡él caliente!
Since taking over the starting third baseman duties for Maikel Franco, Andres Blanco has swung the bat pretty well. In his last 20 games, Blanco is 18 for 65 with 10 extra-base hits (three homers), seven RBIs and a .410 on-base percentage. As a starter over that stretch, Blanco is 23 for 71 (.324) with three homers.
If there has been a flaw, it’s the strikeouts. Blanco has whiffed 14 times in the last 18 games with five multi-strikeout games. For comparison, Ryan Howard has struck out 15 times during the same span with just one multi-whiff game.
This and that
• The Red Sox are 26-12 in their last 38 games against the Phillies.
• Ortiz needs five homers to become the 27th player to hit 500 career home runs.
• Bogaerts is hitting .377 this season against lefties.
• The last Red Sox pitcher to go 6-0 in a month was Pedro Martinez in May of 1999.