Keep the Good Times Rolling — Series Preview: Phillies at Reds, August 11-13

The Phillies are continuing their road trip up in Cincinnati after their clean sweep of the Rangers in Texas— their first sweep since June against the Blue Jays. Now they’re aiming to get their first back-to-back sweep since May 22nd.

Coming into the series, the Reds are sitting 1.5 games back of the Mets for the last wild card spot. Cincinnati has been playing some good baseball since its last encounter with the Phillies. They are 16-13 since July 6th, when they lost a rubber match to the Phils.

At that point, the Reds were only 2 games above .500 and had to pass a few teams to be considered for the playoffs.

The outcome of this series could seriously flip the narrative around on the Mets, who could be out of a playoff spot by Wednesday.

Platoons Actually Work?

In Rob Thomson’s tenure as Phillies manager, he’s leaned heavily on an outfield platoon. We’ve seen it for a few years now with Brandon Marsh and Johan Rojas, who plenty of fans were tired of.

It seemed platoons weren’t working in South Philly, and there was plenty of drama surrounding the idea.

So Dave Dombrowski went out and got a right-handed outfielder as another name in the hat of the outfield platoon. Harrison Bader has played exceptional defense, and his bat has already had a big moment. His teammate/platoon partner, Marsh, has heated up this summer, slashing .318/.363/.497 since June 1st.

A functional platoon has been born by the brain of Dombrowski and Thomson. Even Weston Wilson has played great baseball since he was recalled from Lehigh Valley. Surprisingly, Max Kepler has been killing the baseball and holding his own against righties, which has kept him off the waiver wire.

Game 1 of the Reds series features Andrew Abbott, a southpaw with a 2.34 ERA. Thomson will likely march out the same lineup he did Sunday against Patrick Corbin, which featured Wilson, Edmundo Sosa, and Bader.

The next two games are against righties, so it will return to Marsh and Kepler to hold their side of the batter’s box down.

These four outfielders have been trading at-bats based on the pitcher’s dominant hand, and it is actually working. The bottom of the lineup has been producing much to the credit of the platoon partners.

Marsh, Bader, Wilson, and Kepler will get another opportunity to show how valuable a platoon can actually be in this early week series against the Reds.

The New Phantastic Phour

Let’s take a look at Sunday’s pitcher lines

Tanner Banks: 1 IP 1 H 0 R 2 K (Hold, 5)

Matt Strahm: 1 IP 1 H 0 R 0 K (Hold, 13)

Orion Kerkering: 1 IP 1 H 0 R 0 K (Hold, 18)

Jhoan Duran: 1 IP 1 H 0 R 0 K (Save, 20)

Four relievers and four shutout innings. Who knew that was even allowed?

Topper sent out the Phantastic Phour to close out the series against the Rangers and secure a sweep. They did just that.

Not only did the Phillies possibly solve their outfield problem that has been ongoing for a few years, but they likely solved their bullpen problem that has been obvious since Jose Alvarado’s suspension.

This season, Phillies starters have more often than not gone 6 innings deep in games and given the last few innings to the bullpen. Now they have an actual bullpen to give those innings to.

Of the Phantastic Phour listed above, Kerkering is the only one who didn’t pitch back-to-back games this weekend. It’s likely that Duran, Strahm, and Banks get the day off Monday so they don’t throw three days in a row (or four for Strahm).

However, there will be meaningful innings in Tuesday and Wednesday’s game for them to handle that will decide the outcome of the series. Having these four ready for those innings could be the difference between winning and losing the series.

Game Times and Broadcasts

Monday, August 11th, 6:10 p.m. ET, NBC Sports Philadelphia, 94.1 WIP, WTTM 1680

Tuesday, August 12th, 6:40 p.m. ET, NBC Sports Philadelphia, 94.1 WIP, WTTM 1680

Wednesday, August 13th, 5:10 p.m. ET, NBC Sports Philadelphia, 94.1 WIP, WTTM 1680

Probable Pitching

Game 1: Taijuan Walker (RHP, 4-5, 3.53 ERA) vs. Andrew Abbott (LHP, 8-2, 2.34 ERA)

Game 2: Ranger Suarez (LHP, 8-5, 2.94 ERA) vs. Brady Singer (RHP, 9-9, 4.53 ERA)

Game 3: Cristopher Sanchez (LHP, 11-3, 2.36 ERA) vs. Hunter Greene (RHP, 4-3, 2.72 ERA)

By The Numbers

• Records
  • Phillies: 68-49
  • Reds: 62-57

• Run Differential
  • Phillies: 90
  • Reds: 41

• Runs Scored Per Game
  • Phillies: 4.72
  • Reds: 4.45

• Runs Allowed Per Game
  • Phillies: 3.96
  • Reds: 4.15

Get new articles emailed right to your inbox.