Phillies (21-19) vs. Boston Red Sox (18-21)7:15 p.m. on FOX
It took 40 games, but the Phillies are finally two games over .500. Six straight wins have brought the Phils to within a -game of the Mets and Marlins for third place. The Nationals are 2 ahead and the first-place Braves have a four-game advantage.
On Friday, the Phillies used four first-inning runs to coast to a 6-4 win. Boston made it a one-run game in the eighth inning but Freddy Galvis hit a home run for insurance and Jonathan Papelbon closed it out against his former team.
The Phillies have remarkably scored first in 11 straight games and 17 of the last 18. The only game in May that the Phils didnt score first was a 9-3 win over the Nationals on May 6.
Starting pitchers
Scoring first could be difficult on Saturday, as Joe Blanton takes on Red Sox lefty Jon Lester.
Lester, 2-3 with a 3.71 ERA, started the season slow but has allowed just two earned runs in his last 16 innings. His most recent start was a complete game in which he allowed one run on eight hits and didnt walk a batter against Seattle.
Lester throws a four-seam fastball that he can sink, a cutter, curveball and changeup. Hes bullied the Phillies the way Cole Hamels has the Red Sox. In three starts vs. the Phils, Lester has allowed one run in 21 innings (0.43 ERA), surrendering just 10 hits and striking out 21. The only extra-base hit hes ever allowed to the Phils was a Shane Victorino double in 2009.
Blanton (4-3, 2.96) is having one of his best runs in a Phillies uniform. Hes allowed two runs or fewer in four of seven starts, has five times as many strikeouts as walks and has struck out at least six batters in each of the last four games.
MLB
Blanton has faced the Red Sox twice as a Phillie. He allowed nine runs on 13 hits over four innings in a start at Fenway Park, but that can be thrown out because Boston is a completely different team in NL stadiums. In his one start vs. the Sox at Citizens Bank Park, Blanton allowed two runs in seven innings and struck out as many batters as he let reach base.
Head-to-head
Boston leads the all-time series, 27-20. The Phillies and Red Sox have met in 14 of the last 16 seasons. The Phils have won four of the last five after losing 21 of the previous 29 games.
Current Red Sox are batting .307 with a .540 slugging percentage against Blanton. Adrian Gonzalez is 7 for 16 with two homers. David Ortiz is a .308 hitter, also with a pair of homers. Fridays leftfielder, Daniel Nava, hit a grand slam on the first pitch of his first major-league at-bat off Blanton two Junes ago at Fenway Park.
Key matchup
Ortiz is hitting .342 with a major-league leading 23 extra-base hits this season, but the Phillies only had to face him once on Friday because he doesnt play the field.
That figures to change on Saturday, though, as the Red Sox have previously stated plans to play Ortiz at first base for one game in the series while shifting Gonzalez to right field (see story). When the Phils and Red Sox met at CBP last season, Ortiz played 13 of 26 innings at first base.
While Ortiz would obviously improve the offense, he doesnt play the field for a reason and Gonzalez has played 0.002 percent of his career innings in the outfield. So Bostons defense would take a hit that the Phils would like to capitalize on.
Note of interest
Aside from a 10-run outburst last season in Houston, the Red Sox have averaged 2.8 runs per game over their last 10 in NL stadiums. Theyve averaged 5.5 in all other games since the start of 2011.
Storylines
A win on Saturday would give the Phillies consecutive series victories over Boston for only the second time in franchise history and the first time since 1998-99.
It would also give the Phils four consecutive series wins after they hadn't won even two series in a row through the first 32 games.
Sound off
Which hitter do you fear more, Ortiz or Gonzalez?
E-mail Corey Seidman at cseidman@comcastsportsnet.com