Phillies looking to take series against Cardinals behind Williams

The Philadelphia Phillies were outlasted by the St. Louis Cardinals in 12 innings last night, eventually losing 6-5 following Matt Carpenter’s sacrifice fly to give the visitors a late lead.

For this afternoon’s rubber game the Phils will send Jerome Williams to the mound, a man with a 3-5 record and a 5.91 ERA so far this season. He has been impressive so far for the Phillies, with a 2.19 ERA over his two starts, including throwing 7 innings of one-run ball against the Mariners on August 18th.

Justin Masterson will take the mound for the Cardinals, with a record of 6-7 and a 5.64 ERA on the year. Despite a series of mechanical setbacks, Masterson had a streak of 11 scoreless innings going into his last start, which ended when he gave up 4 runs in the fifth inning. He is 2-1 with a 6.30 ERA over 4 starts for St. Louis since moving from Cleveland.

Grady Sizemore is back in the line-up for today’s game after hitting off the bench last night. Sizemore has struggled in his last 10 games, going just 3-for-17 with a .176 average, dragging his season mark down to .244.

Wil Nieves will be on catching duties for the Phillies and Williams, having hit .345 through his last 10 games stretching back to the 22nd of July against San Francisco. He featured in last night’s game as a substitute fielder, and in his last start against Seattle Nieves went 3-for-4, bumping up his season average to .289.

The struggling Cody Asche will once again start at third, with Asche having only had 1 hit in his last 11 at-bats, hitting .233 over his last 30 ABs.

Lineups 8/24

Phillies:

Revere CF, Rollins SS, Utley 2B, Howard 1B, Sizemore RF, Brown LF, Nieves C, Asche 3B, Williams P

Cardinals:

Carpenter 3B, Wong 2B, Holliday LF, Adams 1B, Peralta SS, Jay CF, Taveras RF, Cruz C, Masterson P