MLB Baseball Interleague Matchup
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Philadelphia Phillies |
Oakland Athletics |
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| Teams |
|
|
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| Philadelphia Phillies |
8½ |
8½ |
8½ |
| Oakland Athletics |
-185 |
-185 |
-185 |
Odds subject to change |
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 Lineup changes helped the Philadelphia Phillies end a slump. With struggling starter Adam Eaton set to take the mound, manager Charlie Manuel is hoping it will be enough to help his team win a series for the first time in nearly three weeks.
After snapping their longest losing streak of the season, the NL East-leading Phillies may need another strong game at the plate when they play the decisive game of their interleague series with the Oakland Athletics on Thursday.
Philadelphia (43-36) entered the middle game of this series having lost six straight, batting .170 during that span. Manuel decided to make some changes to the batting order, and the Phillies responded with 11 hits in a 4-0 win over the Athletics (42-35) on Wednesday night.
Chase Utley hit second, instead of his usual No. 3 spot, and snapped out of a 1-for-29 slump with a 4-for-5 performance. Jimmy Rollins hit third, Ryan Howard fifth and Shane Victorino seventh for the first time this season for the Phillies, who have dropped four straight series since sweeping Atlanta from June 6-8.
Now, the Phillies are faced with the possibility of trying to overcome another poor start from one of their least effective starters. Eaton (2-5, 4.94 ERA) has lost two straight outings, posting a 6.94 ERA in that stretch.
Philadelphia, though, gave Eaton a total of just two runs to work with in those contests, and has scored three runs or less for the veteran right-hander in 12 of his 15 starts.
That isn't nearly good enough to support a pitcher that has a 5.68 ERA since the start of the 2006 season. In his last start, Eaton gave up six runs and a season-high 12 hits in five-plus innings as Philadelphia lost 7-1 to the Los Angeles Angels on Friday night.
Eaton is 6-8 with a 3.43 ERA in 19 interleague starts, and 1-1 with a 4.91 ERA in four outings against Oakland.
The Phillies need Utley, who is 1-for-10 in the last three games Eaton has started, to get on a roll. He came within a home run of the cycle Wednesday to snap out of the slump with his seventh career game with at least four hits.
"I wasn't trying to do too much," Utley said. "I was just trying to put a good swing on the ball."
He helped Philadelphia gain ground in the NL East for the first time in nearly two weeks, moving two games ahead of Florida.
Utley and the Phillies' lineup will now face Oakland's Rich Harden (4-0, 2.44 ERA), who is 1-0 with a 0.77 ERA in his last two starts.
The right-hander gave up one run and five hits in 5 2-3 innings as Oakland won 7-6 in 11 innings against Florida on Friday night. He is 4-1 with a 2.12 ERA in eight starts and one relief appearance in interleague play.
This will be Harden's first appearance against Philadelphia.
Harden has just one win in his last five outings despite posting a 2.01 ERA during that stretch, with the A's giving him an average of 2.87 runs to work with in those games.
Oakland will be trying to bounce back after one of its worst games at the plate this season, going hitless in five at-bats with runners in scoring position en route to being shut out for the seventh time.
Pick: Oakland Athletics
Result: Won
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