The Philadelphia Phillies and Cleveland Guardians continue their weekend series in Cleveland on Saturday night. Both teams are in prime position to return to the playoffs in 2023 with the Phillies in the thick of the NL Wildcard race and Cleveland once again chasing the Twins for the AL Central Division Crown. The pitching matchup on Saturday will feature Phillies' righty Zach Wheeler (7-4, 4.04) taking on Guardians' righty Tanner Bibee (5-2, 3.32). The first pitch is scheduled for 7:10 PM EST.
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The Philadelphia Phillies come to Cleveland following a 4-3 homestand that ended poorly, losing the final two games of their series with the Brewers. Still, the Phillies have overtaken the Marlins for second place in the NL East and would currently earn a wildcard bid if the season ended today. On Friday night in game one against the Guardians, the Phillies fell behind 4-1 and were never able to come all the way back in a 6-5 loss. Catcher J.T. Realmuto homered and drove in two runs in the loss.
wait til the end ?? #RingTheBell pic.twitter.com/wSYmeJUnVZ
— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) July 19, 2023
The Phillies will give the ball to righty Zach Wheeler in game two of the series. Wheeler is 7-4 in 19 starts including a team-leading 11 quality starts. He has allowed 107 hits in 111 innings pitched with an ERA of 4.04. Wheeler has a K/9 rate of 10.2 and a WHIP of 1.16 on the season. On the road, Wheeler is 5-2 in nine starts including five quality starts. He has allowed 55 hits in 51 innings on the road with an ERA of 4.06. His K/9 rate rises slightly to 10.6 while his WHIP goes up a bit too to 1.24. In his last three starts, Wheeler has an ERA of 5.00 while allowing 19 hits in 18 innings of work.
Key Injuries: OF Cristian Pache and 2B James Harrison are out.