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The Philadelphia Phillies look to bounce back on Friday after just their second loss of the postseason in Game Three of the National League Championship Series and turn to Cristopher Sanchez to resume their winning ways.
Philadelphia Phillies (-125, 9.5) vs. Arizona Diamondbacks
This will be Sanchez’s first start of the postseason, but during the regular season did his best work on the road, posting a 2.08 ERA with 0.7 home runs per nine innings allowed compared to a 3.93 ERA at home with 1.7 home runs per nine innings allowed at home this season.
He is also backed up by a Phillies lineup that despite a clunker of a performance at the plate on Thursday with just one run generated, but since August 1 leads the league with nearly two home runs per game while generating 5.7 runs per game, second only to the Atlanta Braves in this span between the regular season and postseason.
The Diamondbacks lineup have averaged the second-fewest runs per game of any National League team since the start of July between the regular season and postseason with less than 4.1 runs per game and have averaged just one home run per game at home this season, which ranked 23rd in the league this season between the regular season and postseason.
While Joe Mantiply gets the start for the Diamondbacks, he figures to be nothing more than an opener as he has pitched more than two innings just once in his 169 appearances between the regular season and playoffs in what figures to be a true bullpen game for Arizona.
The Diamondbacks have the disadvantage in the bullpen facing a Phillies bullpen that from July 1 until the end of the regular season was third in the league in bullpen ERA and own a 1.63 bullpen ERA in the playoffs while Arizona was 18th in bullpen ERA during the regular season and have a 3.42 bullpen ERA in the playoffs.
With the Diamondbacks lack of power hitting at home coupled with throwing a bullpen game puts them in a sticky spot to attempt to tie the series and will allow the Phillies to get back on track with a win on Friday.
The Play: Phillies -125