The Philadelphia Phillies (32-18) are the hottest team in baseball.
They have won seven straight games, the longest active winning streak across the league, own the best record in the National League, and have the second-most wins in MLB, only behind the Detroit Tigers. The team continues its West Coast swing and heads to Sacramento with a good chance to continue to keep it rolling against an Athletics team that has dropped nine in a row after a 22-20 start through the first 42 games of the season.
The Phillies currently lead the NL East by two games and have a good chance to at the very least maintain that margin over the holiday weekend. Both games on Friday and Saturday are 10:05 p.m. starts, with the series finale concluding on Sunday at 4:05 p.m.
Pitching Matchups
RHP Zack Wheeler (5-1, 2.67 ERA) vs. LHP Jeffrey Springs (5-3, 3.91 ERA)
Could it line up any better for the Phillies to push their win streak to eight games? The ace, Zack Wheeler, looks to continue his impressive season after earning a win in his last start against Pittsburgh, where he turned in a quality start. He tossed six scoreless innings, allowing just three hits and one walk, and had six strikeouts to make it back-to-back scoreless outings after blanking Cleveland back on May 11.
Wheeler is tied for second in all of MLB with his 80 strikeouts, tied with Carlos Rodón of the Yankees, with MacKenzie Gore of the Nationals leading with 84 punchouts. The righty is also fourth in WHIP (0.89), sixth in innings pitched (64.0), and tied for 12th in batting average against (.196).
The 34-year-old will be making his fifth-career start against the Athletics, posting a 2-1 record with a 6.27 ERA. The last time he faced them was back on June 18, 2023, where he went six innings scoreless innings allowing six hits, two walks, and had four strikeouts in a 3-2 Phillies win.
Southpaw Jefferey Springs takes the mound for the Athletics, who has been very solid over his last four starts, posting a 1.46 ERA in four starts, picking up a pair of wins during that stretch. He has allowed just four earned runs over his last 24.2 innings of work and will look to try and keep a rolling Phillies offense at bay.
LHP Cristopher Sanchez (4-1, 3.10 ERA) vs. LHP Jacob Lopez (0-1, 3.86 ERA)
Cristopher Sanchez will start this series like he did the one in Colorado, where he did not factor in the decision in a 9-3 come-from-behind win for Philadelphia. Sanchez, who went six innings and racked up seven strikeouts, gave up a run in the first, third, and sixth innings while the offense was held in check through the first six innings before erupting for eight runs over the final three innings once Sanchez departed.
Sanchez has gone six innings in each of his last three starts and has the third-best ERA in the rotation at a respectable 3.10.
He will take on fellow left-hander Jacob Lopez, who was called up to the big-league team for the A’s.
Lopez will be making just his fourth career start and second with the Athletics this season. A 26th-round pick by San Francisco in 2018, he was traded to the A’s along with Springs from Tampa Bay last December.
LHP Jesús Luzardo (5-0, 1.95 ERA) vs. RHP Gunnar Hoglund (1-2, 5.06 ERA)
One of the best acquisitions in all of baseball has been Jesus Lúzardo for the Phillies. He has been pitching like an ace for nearly the first two months of the season, and that continued in his last start against the Rockies, where he racked up 10 strikeouts in six innings, allowing an earned run on three hits in a 7-4 Phillies win. It was the second 10+ strikeout game for the southpaw this season, with his season watermark being 11 in his debut back in late March.
His 1.95 ERA is good for seventh-best in all of MLB, while he ranks 12th in strikeouts (67) and is well on his way to a National League All-Star selection while in the conversation for NL Cy Young to this point.
He will look to outduel rookie Gunnar Hoglund, a top 15 prospect for the club. The righty was a two-time first-round pick, being selected by the Pirates in the first round in 2018 before opting to pitch at Ole Miss in college. Toronto then selected him with the 19th overall pick in 2021. He had an impressive debut against Miami back on May 2, where he went six innings, allowed just an earned run while not walking a batter and striking out seven. Since then, he has given up 11 earned runs in 15.1 innings.
Other Phillies Notes
Apparently, shaving or buzzing your head is synonymous with success here in Philadelphia. Remember what the Eagles did after Nick Sirianni did it? Well, Bryce Harper decided to do something similar, and he has been red-hot since the buzz cut on May 13.
Sutter Health Park, the home ballpark for the Athletics, is a Triple-A stadium and has seen the fifth-most home runs hit this season with 73. Kyle Schwarber who clobbered a pair of homers in the Rockies series will have a good chance to continue his pace to be share or be atop the league in home runs this weekend.
Mandatory Credit: Kyle Ross-Imagn Images
