Phillies (48-81) vs. Braves (57-71)
7:05 p.m. on CSN; streaming live on CSNPhilly.com and the NBC Sports App
The Phillies' two most exciting young players will be on full display Monday night, as Aaron Nola looks to recover from two rough starts and Rhys Hoskins looks to stay as hot as any rookie ever in the power department.
1. Nine days in a row?
The Phillies had off on Aug. 21, but Hoskins has homered in all eight days they've played since Aug. 19. He was the quickest to nine homers, then the quickest to 10 homers, then the quickest to 11 homers. He's already set the Phillies' rookie record for home runs in a month.
This power from Hoskins is not sustainable — he's on a full-season pace of 99 home runs. But what does look sustainable is his overall approach at the plate. Hoskins knows the strike zone, lays off pitchers' pitches and doesn't miss mistakes. Aside from the 11 homers and 24 RBIs, he's also hitting .297 with 11 walks and 13 strikeouts. And over his last 15 games, he has nine walks and nine strikeouts.
Pitchers have tried to get Hoskins to chase — the three zones in which he's seen the most pitches are low-and-away off the plate, up-and-in off the plate and low-and-in off the plate.
But after those three zones, the next two most frequent locations are middle-middle and middle-in, and Hoskins has not missed those.
Moving forward, expect to see Hoskins get fewer fastballs. He's 13 for 39 (.333) so far against four-seam and two-seam fastballs with eight of his 11 homers. But it's not like he'll never see a fastball again. Hoskins' ability to lay off balls and work his way into hitter's counts will ensure that.
MLB
2. Rough couple starts for Nola
Nola had lowered his ERA to 3.02 after allowing one run on two hits to the Mets on Aug. 12. Since then, he's allowed 12 runs in 11⅓ innings to the Giants and Marlins, his worst two-start stretch of the year.
Nola (9-9, 3.58) has walked multiple batters in four straight starts and seven of nine, something he's not pleased with. That could be corrected tonight against a Braves team that lacks patience.
Nola has faced the Braves only once this season, holding them to one run in eight innings in Atlanta on June 6. That was actually the very beginning of his dominant two-month run.
Freddie Freeman has hit Nola well, going 6 for 13 with a homer, two doubles and two walks. Nick Markakis is 4 for 14 with a pair of homers. All other active Braves are 10 for 61 (.164) with no homers.
3. Scouting Sims
The Phillies face 23-year-old Braves right-hander Lucas Sims, who makes his sixth career start.
Sims, the 21st overall pick in the 2012 draft, did not dominate in the minors. He struck out a lot batters and walked a lot of batters, but so far neither has been true in the majors. Sims (2-3, 4.13) has 15 strikeouts and eight walks in 28⅓ innings.
He's coming off his best start — six shutout innings, three hits allowed to the Mariners.
Sims throws five pitches: a four-seam and two-seam fastball in the 91 to 93 mph range, a slider, curveball and changeup.
Sims has a deliberate wind-up with a high leg kick, but he speeds up his delivery substantially with men on base. He's held his opponents to 0 for 11 with men in scoring position, a trend that's sure to normalize, perhaps tonight.
4. Favorite foe
The Phillies are 11-2 this season against the Braves. Atlanta is only five games under .500 against the rest of baseball, while the Phillies have a .319 winning percentage against all other teams.
As hard as it may be to believe, the Phils' record against the Braves this season is the best for any MLB team against any division opponent.
Unfortunately for the Phils, they'll be missing the two players who have blasted the Braves the most. Odubel Herrera has hit .464 with seven doubles, two triples, five homers and 13 RBIs in 13 games against the Braves this season. Aaron Altherr has hit .351 with two doubles, four homers, nine RBIs and a 1.172 OPS in 10 games. Both are still on the DL with hamstring injuries, though Herrera took batting practice on Sunday.
The Phillies have also pitched extremely well against the Braves, posting a 3.28 ERA in the 13 games.
"Everybody pitches like they're Bob Gibson against us, regardless of their history," Braves manager Brian Snitker told reporters after the teams' latest meeting. "It's just one of those things. You can't explain it. ... It's just a baseball quirk or something."
5. This and that
• Nick Williams' sample size is nearly three times longer than Hoskins' and while his production hasn't been as staggering, it's still provided the Phillies confidence moving forward. In 50 games, Williams has hit .286/.350/.497 with 20 extra-base hits, 30 RBIs, speed and solid corner-outfield defense.
• Cesar Hernandez has hit .292 with a .365 OBP since the start of 2016, something only nine other National Leaguers have done: Paul Goldschmidt, Joey Votto, Charlie Blackmon, Corey Seager, D.J. LeMahieu, Buster Posey, Daniel Murphy, Freddie Freeman and Justin Turner.
• Former Phillie Ender Inciarte has had a nice career so far with Atlanta but hasn't done much damage against the Phils. Over the last two seasons as the Braves' everyday leadoff hitter, Inciarte has hit .254 with a .299 OBP. Against all other teams over that span, he's hit .301 with a .352 OBP.