Zach Eflin is on the mound at Fenway tonight against the Red Sox

The Phillies are back tonight against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park. This marks the first game of an 11 day road trip for the Phillies. Zach Eflin will be on the mound. Although he’s 0-1 with a 3.60 ERA, Eflin has pitched well in his first two starts. Last week he struck out 10 in 6 innings against the Orioles. He will face 0-2 Zack Godley, who on the other hand, has been pretty terrible.
The Phillies will look to keep things trending upwards after a series sweep of the Mets last weekend. The bullpen, which has been a consistent pain point this season, actually pitched well against the Mets, allowing three earned runs in 5 2/3 innings. That’s good for a 2.79 ERA, which is well below the bullpen’s 8.77 ERA average.
Rhys Hoskins got off to a very slow start for the Phillies, but has found some life over the past seven games. He’s batting .308 (8-26) with three doubles, four RBI’s, and an .861 OPS. Rhys is finally hitting the ball much harder and getting some air underneath it which is great to see. Hoskins is super important for the lineup that to date, is relying heavily on Bryce Harper and JT Realmuto to carry the offensive load.
Speaking of Harper and Realmuto, they have been absolutely dominant this year. Harper is batting .364 with 4 home runs, 12 RBIs, and a 1.165 OPS in 17 games. Realmuto is batting .300 with 8 home runs, 20 RBIs and a 1.071 OPS.
All these numbers are encouraging for the 8-9 Phillies, who face the Red Sox twice before a double-header against the Blue Jays on Thursday. It would be huge to get on a little win-streak here against sub .500 teams heading into the weekend series against the Braves.
A positive for the Phillies is that the Red Sox aren’t a very good baseball team this year and their pitching is terrible. I think the Phillies will be able to plate runs and run away with a big win tonight, making it 4 wins in a row.
Ring that bell, baby.