The Philadelphia Phillies (88-75, 83-80 RL, 80-76-7 O/U) battle the St. Louis Cardinals (93-70, 86-77 RL, 77-70-6 O/U) in game two of the NL Wildcard series on Saturday night. The Phillies will send Aaron Nola to the mound. The Cardinals will reply with Miles Mikolas. The Phillies logged a 4-3 record in the seven regular-season meetings against the Cardinals this season. Philly rallied in the ninth for a wild 6-3 win in game one.
The Phillies will have Aaron Nola take the mound in game two. Nola posted a 3.00 ERA on the road this season and logged 6.2 shutout innings against the Astros in his last regular season performance earlier this week. The veteran right-hander registered another outstanding season, amassing a 3.25 ERA and a 0.96 WHIP accompanied by an 11-13 record in 205 innings pitched. He struggled in his lone meeting against the Cardinals this season, squandering five runs in seven innings, and was tagged with the loss. Nola has excelled against the Cards in his career, flaunting a stellar 2.68 ERA and a 5-3 record in 60.1 innings.
The Phillies were one of the better teams in the big leagues with RISP this season, ranking 3rd with a .269 batting average. They went a decent 2 for 8 with RISP in game one with both hits occurring in the ninth inning. Harper went 0 for 3 in game one and the Phillies will need more from their star.
Nick Castellanos has enjoyed the most success against Cards’ starter Miles Mikolas than any other current Phillies hitter. The 30-year-old slugger has two homers, three RBIs, and a strong .933 OPS against Mikolas. Castellanos had an inconsistent season, collecting 62 RBIs and a .694 OPS. He has some postseason experience, going 4 for 23 with one RBI.
The Phillies scored an average of 4.61 runs this season, ranking them seventh overall. The pitching staff filed a 3.97 team ERA, positioning them 18th in the big leagues.