Hamels looks to lead Phillies to series win over Marlins

Kevin Durso

April 22 2015

Tuesday night saw the Phillies (5-9) offense break out for seven runs in a series opening win, complete with Ryan Howard's first home run of the season that put the Phillies in front for good.

The series continues on Wednesday night as the Phillies go for their second series win of the season against the last-place Miami Marlins (3-11). First pitch of the middle game of the series is at 7:05 p.m.

Starting Pitching Matchup

Miami Marlins (3-11)			Philadelphia Phillies (5-9)
RHP	Jarred Cosart	(0-1, 4.76 ERA)	LHP	Cole Hamels	(0-2, 5.00 ERA)

Cole Hamels last start was another struggled, as he allowed five runs in six innings, including two more home runs, on five hits with four walks and seven strikeouts in a loss to the Nationals. In 34 career starts against the Marlins, Hamels is 9-14 with a 3.17 ERA.

Former Phillies prospect Jarred Cosart makes his first career start against the team that drafted him on Wednesday night. Cosart allowed five runs on seven hits in 5 1/3 innings in a no-decision against the Mets in his last start last Thursday.

Starting Lineups

Miami Marlins (3-11)			Philadelphia Phillies (5-9)
	Position/Bats	Player		Position/Bats	Player
1	2B/L	Dee Gordon	1	CF/L	Odubel Herrera
2	3B/R	Martin Prado	2	LF/L	Ben Revere
3	RF/R	Giancarlo Stanton	3	2B/L	Chase Utley
4	1B/R	Michael Morse	4	C/R	Carlos Ruiz
5	CF/R	Marcell Ozuna	5	3B/L	Cody Asche
6	C/R	J.T. Realmuto	6	1B/L	Ryan Howard
7	LF/L	Ichiro Suzuki	7	RF/L	Grady Sizemore
8	SS/R	Adeiny Hechavarria	8	SS/S	Freddy Galvis
9	P/R	Jarred Cosart	9	P/L	Cole Hamels

The Phillies lineup is always an interesting animal. The player leading in batting average so far this season is Cody Asche at .341. He bats fifth. Second is Freddy Galvis at .319. He bats eighth. And then you look at the 2-3-4 hitters for the Phillies, who are hitting .178, .109 and .200 respectively. Ben Revere, the two-hole hitter, did come through with a two-run triple on Tuesday and Ryan Howard contributed his first home run of the season from the six spot in the order, so some of this is working. It still doesn't take away from the fact that Chase Utley and Carlos Ruiz have combined for 12 hits in 14 games this season.

The Marlins are using the same lineup as Tuesday night with one minor change. Catcher J.T. Realmuto moves up to sixth in the order and Ichiro Suzuki drops to the seventh spot in the order. Giancarlo Stanton, Michael Morse and Marcell Ozuna all have Hamels in their book for home runs at least twice in their careers, and it's no secret that the Phillies ace has struggled with the longball this season.

Game Notes

Milestone Watch: With a win, the Phillies will reach 500 wins in the history of Citizens Bank Park. The Phillies are 499-402 in the 10-plus year history of the ballpark.
This is the first time any Phillies hitter will face Cosart.
Marlins vs. Hamels
- Martin Prado: 18-for-61 (.295), 4 2B, 1 HR, 5 RBI, 2 BB, 5 K
- Giancarlo Stanton: 12-for-43 (.279), 2 2B, 1 3B, 3 HR, 6 RBI, 2 BB, 17 K
- Adeiny Hechavarria: 8-for-22 (.364), 2 3B, 3 RBI, 1 BB, 4 K
Four of the Phillies five wins this season have come at home. The Phillies had a 7-3 record at home against the Marlins in 2014 and have won 18 of their last 24 games against the Marlins at home.
Tuesday's win was just the second time this season the Phillies held a lead after the completion of the sixth inning. They are 2-0 in games where they lead through six innings.
The Phillies are also 4-1 when they score more than three runs in a game. They are 1-8 when scoring three runs or less.

Gametime: 7:05 p.m.
Weather: 59 degrees, cloudy/showers, 30% PoP
Location: Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia, PA
TV: CSN
Radio: 1210 WPHT, 94 WIP, SBP 1480 (Spanish)

Kevin Durso is a contributing writer and editorial assistant for Philliedelphia. Follow him on Twitter @Kevin_Durso.