Phillies Look For Hope As Pettibone, Medlen Square Off In Series Finale

Well the Phillies certainly looked lost last night. A bad start from Kyle Kendrick followed by a lack of offensive production from the Phillies offense led to the Phils' 46th loss of the season. The Braves blasted 19 hits enroute to their 50th win of the year. Kyle Kendrick struggled early on and allowed six earned over five to take his 7th loss of the year. With this weekend series tied at one-a-piece, the Phillies will send out Jonathan Pettibone (4-3, 3.99 ERA) against the Braves and Kris Medlen (6-7, 3.11 ERA) in the rubber match.

In Jonathan Pettibone's last start, against the Pirates on Tuesday,  the right hander held the Bucs to one run over 5 2/3 innings of work. He walked three, but also allowed just three hits and struck out six to win his first game since May 14th. Pettibone has been solid in his last three starts, winning one of them but owning a 2.55 ERA over that stretch. The rookie Pettibone has certainly been a solid fill-in for this Phillies rotation. With Carlos Zambrano on the DL until further notice, Pettibone could be with the rotation until Roy Halladay returns. Pettibone will be making his first career start against the Braves this afternoon.

Kris Medlen will be looking for more run support as he goes into today's match up. In his last outing, against the Marlins on Tuesday, the Braves scored 11 runs as Medlen held the opposition to three earned runs on nine hits through six innings. Medlen has won all three of his last outings and owns a 3.15 ERA in that stretch. The right hander has improved his command since May, walking six hitters in his last eight starts after walking 22 in his first nine. Medlen held the Phillies to just two earned runs through five innings back on April 4th, but was handed the loss in that game. In his career, Medlen is 1-1 with a 5.02 ERA against the Phillies.

 Game Notes:

• Darin Ruf is in the Phillies' starting lineup this afternoon for the first time this season.
• The Phillies sit 8 1/2 games out of the NL East race behind the Braves entering today.
• Since 2006, no player has hit more home runs against the Phillies than Dan Uggla, who hit his 26th and 27th career home runs against Philadelphia in the first two games of the series.
• Today is going to be a scorcher, keep cool on the field and in the stands.

Phillies lineup:

1. Ben Revere CF
2. Jimmy Rollins SS
3. Chase Utley 2B
4. Domonic Brown LF
5. Michael Young 3B
6. Delmon Young RF
7. Darin Ruf 1B
8. Carlos Ruiz C
9. Jonathan Pettibone P.

Braves lineup:

1. Andrelton Simmons SS
2. Jayson Heyward RF
3. Justin Upton LF
4. Freddie Freeman 1B
5. Brian McCann C
6. Dan Uggla 2B
7. B.J. Upton CF
8. Chris Johnson 3B
9. Kris Medlen P.

First Pitch Forecast: Partly Cloudy – 91° – 50% Humidity (Feels like 97°) – 0% PoP

TV: myPHL17
Radio: 94 WIP, 1210 WPHT.

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