Phillies (19-33) vs. Reds (22-27)
7:05 p.m. on CSN
The Phillies are back in action Tuesday as they look to end a season-long seven-game losing streak. Monday was their second day off in the last five after they played 20 games in 20 nights.
After being swept in the first three games of a nine-game home stand, the Phils welcome in the Cincinnati Reds.
Bryan Price's club has struggled in 2015, but swept the first-place Nationals this past weekend, outscoring them 21-9.
Look out for the lefties
Sean O'Sullivan (1-4, 4.81) gets the call after his ugliest start of the year. Last Wednesday afternoon at Citi Field, O'Sullivan allowed seven runs on 11 hits — four of which were homers — over 5 2/3 innings against the Mets. His ERA ballooned from 3.54 to 4.81.
O'Sullivan has been crushed by lefties this season. In 43 at-bats, they've hit .372 off him with a 1.300 OPS, seven homers and 11 RBIs.
That will definitely come into play tonight at Citizens Bank Park as O'Sullivan faces Reds lefties Joey Votto, Jay Bruce and Billy Hamilton. Price could also opt to start left-handed hitting Skip Schumaker or Brennan Boesch in left field in place of Marlon Byrd if he so chooses.
MLB
Byrd, traded by the Phils to the Reds this past offseason for pitcher Ben Lively, is hitting .209/.280/.436 with 10 homers and 25 RBIs.
Byrd is hitting .172 against right-handed pitching, but he is 3 for 5 with two doubles and a homer in his career against O'Sullivan, so he'll likely start.
Résumé-builder for Cueto
After Cole Hamels, Reds right-hander Johnny Cueto will be the most attractive pitcher on the trade market this summer. Cueto, 29, is an impending free agent and there is almost no way the Reds can afford him.
In nine starts this season, Cueto is 3-4 with a 3.03 ERA and 0.96 WHIP. He has 60 strikeouts and 12 walks in 65 1/3 innings.
Cueto was the Cy Young runner-up last season, when he went 20-9 with a 2.25 ERA and 0.96 WHIP in 243 2/3 innings. An ERA and WHIP that low in that many innings … almost unheard of. Cueto was the first pitcher since Bret Saberhagen in 1989 to match all three of those criteria. In any other year, Cueto would have been a unanimous Cy Young winner, but Clayton Kershaw was superhuman in 2014.
It may not seem like it, but Cueto has been this dominant for five years now. Since 2011, he's 56-29 with a 2.53 ERA in 111 starts.
His career numbers against the Phillies will be forever marred by an awful start on July 6, 2009, when he allowed nine runs to them and recorded just two outs in a 22-1 Phillies win. (Remember that game?) Including that start, Cueto is 1-4 with a 5.52 ERA against the Phils in eight meetings. If you remove it, the ERA drops to 3.80. Still, he hasn't beaten the Phillies in any of his last five tries dating back to 2010.
Brutal slumps
Ryan Howard and Freddy Galvis were so hot for so long, but neither is in a good place right now.
Since getting his batting line to a season-best .270/.313/.546, Howard is 1 for 20 over his last five games with no walks and eight strikeouts. He's now down to .244/.284/.494.
Freddy Galvis, who had been the National League's most consistent offensive shortstop through six weeks, has been swinging and missing way more than usual.
Since reaching .355 on May 15, Galvis is 7 for 52 (.135) with one extra-base hit and two walks. The slump has his batting line all the way down to .289/.342/.335 — decent but unremarkable offensive numbers.
Most notably, Galvis has struck out 13 times in his last 54 plate appearances after striking out just 13 times in his first 134 plate appearances of the season.
Cincy's underrated slugger
When you think Reds, you often think Votto and Bruce, but Todd Frazier has been their best run producer for two years now.
The Toms River, N.J. native is hitting .287 with 16 homers, 31 RBIs and a .996 OPS this season. He leads all major-league third basemen in homers, slugging and OPS.
That's come after his true breakout season in 2014, when he hit .273 with 29 homers and 80 RBIs.
Frazier has cut down on his strikeout rate by about four percent, which is also helping a Cincinnati lineup that is whiff-heavy with Votto, Bruce and Byrd.
Frazier is seeing the ball extremely well at the moment, going 10 for 16 (.667) with four doubles and three homers over his last four games. That said, he's been way better at hitter-friendly Great American Ballpark (.337 BA, 1.245 OPS, 11 HR) than away from it (.242 BA, .767 OPS, five HR).
This and that
• The four Phillies who have seen Cueto the most are Howard, Chase Utley, Carlos Ruiz and Jeff Francoeur. Howard is 4 for 18 (.222) against him with two doubles, a triple, a homer and four walks. Utley is 6 for 18 (.333), all singles. Ruiz is 3 for 9 with a double and a walk, and Francoeur is 2 for 5 with a double and a walk.
• Votto hit just .253 with two homers in May after batting .317 with seven bombs in April.
• Bruce, always streaky, is hitting .378 with a 1.072 OPS over his last 13 games after hitting just .162 in his first 34 contests. Bruce has long killed the Phillies, hitting .317 with 13 homers and 35 RBIs against them in 42 career games.
• The Phillies rank last in the majors in runs, slugging, OPS and home runs, 29th in on-base percentage, 28th in batting average and 27th in walks.
• The Phils are 1 for their last 28 with runners in scoring position and are hitting .219 in those situations this season. That ranks 28th in baseball. The Reds are dead last at .202.