Series Preview: Phillies look to hold onto NL Wild Card lead, travel to St. Louis for a weekend series against the Cardinals

The Philadelphia Phillies are back on the road after a miserable 2-5 home stand to face the St. Louis Cardinals.

Phillies Hunt for Red October

September hasn’t been kind to the Phillies. They are just 5-8 this month and have lost several games in heartbreaking fashion. Luckily, everyone in the NL Wild Card continues to lose baseball games too.

The Phillies hold a 1.5 game lead over the Chicago Cubs in second and a four game lead over the Giants, D-Backs, and Reds who are all tied for the third and final ticket to the postseason.

The St. Louis Cardinals are a bad baseball team, but that doesn’t mean that they won’t be looking to dethrone the Phillies out of the top NL Wild Card spot.

The Cards just took 2 of 3 from the AL East-leading Baltimore Orioles and something tells me they would like nothing more than to ruin postseason dreams for the team that knocked them out of the Wild Card last season.

Starting Pitchers

Aaron Nola (12-9, 4.64 ERA) vs Zack Thompson (5-5, 4.06 ERA)

Ranger Suarez (2-6, 3.93 ERA) vs Miles Mikolas (7-11, 4.75 ERA)

Taijuan Walker (15-5, 4.30 ERA) vs Dakota Hudson (6-2, 5.10 ERA)

Aaron Nola will get things started tonight in St. Louis.

On the season, Nola is 12-9 in 29 starts and holds a 4.64 ERA. Needless to say, it hasn’t been the best season for Nola, but he has pitched well in his lone appearance against the Cardinals.

Nola picked up the win while going seven innings and allowing just one hit and no runs while striking out nine. Over his last five starts, Nola has gone 3-1 but with a 5.46 ERA.

Zack Thompson is 5-5 on the season in 22 appearances including six starts. In his last five games, all starts, Thompson is 3-1 with a 4.15 ERA.