Winless since last August, Kyle Kendrick will try to pitch the Philadelphia Phillies to a season-high fourth straight victory on Wednesday night in the middle contest of a three-game set versus the Miami Marlins.
Kendrick is 0-9 over his last 15 outings since a victory on Aug. 6, going 0-4 this year despite a solid 3.96 earned run average.
The right-hander matched his longest start of the season last time out on Friday, but the Phillies were shut out 3-0 by Cincinnati. Kendrick allowed all three runs over seven innings on four hits and a walk.
Kendrick, 29, is an excellent 12-2 in his career versus the Marlins, logging a 3.45 ERA in 22 meetings (17 starts). He faced them back on April 13 and did not factor into a 4-3 win, striking out a season-high seven over six innings.
The Phillies pushed their winning streak to three in a row by winning last night's opener 6-5. Jimmy Rollins hit a go-ahead, two-run homer in the fifth inning and John Mayberry Jr. added a pinch-hit, two-run single for needed insurance in the sixth inning.
"They gave me the heads-up that if the bases were loaded, I might get a pinch hit there," Mayberry said. "I just tried to prepare myself to have a quality at-bat, get a good pitch to hit and try to hit it hard."
Rollins had a pair of hits in the game and is just two shy of matching Richie Ashburn for second on the club's all-time list. Ashburn logged 2,217 hits in his Phillies career, while fellow Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt is the franchise's leader with 2,234.
Philadelphia kicked off a span of 20 games in 20 days and had to hold off a late Miami charge. Jarrod Saltalamacchia singled home a run in the eighth inning and Garrett Jones' fourth hit of the game in the ninth inning scored a run as well and made it a one-run game before Jonathan Papelbon settled down to record his 12th save.
The Marlins, returning home from a 4-7 road trip, fell to 17-6 at home this year.
Miami will hand the ball tonight to right-hander Nathan Eovaldi, who aims to rebound from his worst outing of 2014. Eovaldi took a 6-4 loss on Thursday at San Francisco, giving up season highs of six runs and nine hits over 4 1/3 innings.
"Any time I got ahead, I left a fastball up or down the middle," said Eovaldi, who fell to 2-2 with a 3.62 ERA on the season. "It's tough, especially when we keep scoring runs."
The 24-year-old faced the Phillies on April 12 and did not get a decision in his team's 5-4 loss. Eovaldi allowed four runs over 6 1/3 innings and is 1-4 with a 4.38 ERA in seven starts in this matchup.
The Phillies swept a three-game set at home against the Marlins from April 11-13 and have won 12 of the previous 15 encounters.
[SportsNetwork.com]
