The Philadelphia Phillies (23-24) and Washington Nationals (24-23) will begin their weekend series at Nationals Park in Washington with a Friday night matchup set for 7:05 p.m. ET. The game will air live on MLB.com with a paid subscription or for free here.
The Nationals have struggled to produce runs, putting a big burden on their starting pitchers. Fortunately, Jordan Zimmermann (7-2) has been up to the task.
Zimmerman tries to become the NL's first eight-game winner as Washington opens the three-game series. His 1.62 ERA has been enough to manufacture wins despite the struggling offense, He allowed two runs - one earned - and seven hits over eight innings in a 201 defeat at San Diego on Saturday. However, his only mistakes came from solo homers from both Yonder Alonso and later by Alexi Amarista in the eight.
"It was a good pitch, it was up," Zimmermann, who is 1-4 with a 5.06 ERA in six starts against Philadelphia, said of the pitch to Alonso. "You can't really complain about that. The throwing error I made down the line cost us. If I don't make that, we're still out there playing."
The Nationals have scored 31 runs over the last 12 games, but they managed a 2-1 win at San Francisco on Wednesday to halt their four-game losing skid.
Philadelphia will match Zimmermann with Kyle Kendrick (4-2). Kendrick currently owns a 2.82 ERA and is coming off a four-hit, six inning performance against Cincinnati in which he was saddled with his second loss of the season.
The Phillies will be without second baseman Chase Utley after he was placed on the 15-day disabled list Thursday with an oblique strain. Utley has a .475 slugging percentage and his 25 RBIs tie him with Ryan Howard for the team lead.
"We do believe and hope that Chase will be ready to play in Philadelphia within 15 days," general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. told ESPN. "We are being cautious with this injury as it is a tricky one and want to make sure it isn't an issue for him throughout the season."
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