Cole Hamels Looks To Give Phillies Series Sweep Against Braves, Maholm

Last night's game was so cool. After back and forth play – including a blown save by Jonathan Papelbon, the Phillies came back on top with a walkoff solo home run in the ninth inning. The Phillies, still 12 games under .500, will send out Cole Hamels (6-13, 3.50 ERA) to face the first place Braves in an effort for a series win at home. Opposing will be lefthander Paul Maholm (10-10, 4.41 ERA) as he looks to get the Braves back on track to clinch their playoff berth.

Cole Hamels is coming off of a no-decision against the Nationals last Monday. After tossing seven innings of two-hit, one-run ball against the Nationals, Hamels was pulled because he didn't feel too good. It's not anything to think of right now, but he is still scheduled to start today. Over his last twelve starts Hamels has been superb, going 4-2 with a 2.17 ERA. Despite the constant lack of run support, Hamels has been one of the best pitchers in baseball since mid-July. Hamels is 1-1 against the Braves this year, including a complete game win against them back on August 12th. In his career against Atlanta, Hamels is 13-8 with a 3.60 ERA.

Paul Maholm struggled on Monday against the Mets, but pulled out his first win since June 30th after allowing three earned runs on six hits through five innings. The lefthander walked three and struck out four.  Over his last three, Maholm is 1-1 with a 4.41 ERA. In that short stretch, Maholm has struck out nine batters and walked eight. Maholm is 1-1 against Philadelphia this season. On July 5, Maholm was struck for four earned runs on nine hits through six innings of work. In his career, Maholm is 5-3 with a 4.78 ERA against the Phils.

Game Notes: 

• In Cole Hamels' starts this season, as the offense has scored three runs or fewer in 15 of 29 starts.
  
• The Braves have recorded 20 quality starts in their last 29 games and lead the NL in that category with 87.
  
• The Phillies are just 17-58 when scoring three or fewer runs this season. When they score more than three, they are 48-19.
  

Phillies lineup:

1. Cesar Hernandez CF
2. Jimmy Rollins SS
3. Chase Utley 2B
4. Darin Ruf RF
5. Kevin Frandsen 1B
6. Cody Asche 3B
7. Freddy Galvis LF
8. Erik Kratz C
9. Cole Hamels P.

Braves lineup:

1. B.J Upton CF
2. Andrelton Simmons SS
3. Freddie Freeman 1B
4. Chris Johnson 3B
5. Evan Gattis LF
6. Gerald Laird C
7. Dan Uggla 2B
8. Joey Terdoslavich Rf
9. Paul Maholm P.

Erik Seybold is a writer for Philliedelphia. Follow him on Twitter.