Phillies (63-78) at Nationals (83-58)
7:05 p.m. on CSN
After Friday night's 5-4 loss to the Washington Nationals, the Phillies turn to right-handed starting pitcher Jerad Eickhoff to continue their road trip success.
In the first five games of their current trip, the Phillies are 3-2, which is a vast improvement over their 0-6 homestand that preluded it.
Here are five things to know for Saturday.
1. The NL Cy Young?
In the second year of an eight-year contract, Max Scherzer is paying off early for the Nationals in a big way. In fact, for a pitcher paid to be an ace, he's certainly pitching like one.
Here's the line for the 31-year-old righty this season: Scherzer has a 2.88 ERA and a 16-7 record, his 16 wins tied for first in the National League. He's thrown 197 innings over 29 starts, while striking out 243 batters and walking just 47 batters, good for a 5.17 strikeout-to-walk ratio. That is somehow worse than his 8.12 mark last year en route to a fifth-place finish in the Cy Young race.
Scherzer also has a 0.924 WHIP. He has one complete game, in which he struck out 20 batters in May. He's buoyed a Nationals rotation that has dealt with injuries and decline to varying degrees and helped vault the Nationals to the top of the NL East.
MLB
If Scherzer wins the Cy Young, he would be the sixth pitcher ever to win the award in both the AL and NL. The previous five are Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, Gaylord Perry and former Phillies ace Roy Halladay.
Similar to Tanner Roark on Friday, Scherzer has dominated the Phillies. He's 3-0 with a 2.48 ERA over four career starts. He's allowed just 28 baserunners, while striking out 36 in 29 innings.
His only notable weakness is the long ball. He's given up 26 home runs, three shy of his career-high, and has allowed four to the Phillies.
2. Eickhoff vs. the Nationals
Last September, Eickhoff had a run of four starts to end his season that was remarkable for a 25-year-old in his first shot at MLB hitters. Eickhoff went seven innings in four straight starts, allowing no more than five hits in any game and striking out at least five in each.
His penultimate start of 2015 was against the Nationals, in which he delivered his first career 10 strikeout game. He walked just one, gave up five hits and just two runs. His lone blemishes were an RBI single and solo homer by Jayson Werth. While he would top it with a 10-strikeout, no-run start against the National League champion Mets six days later, it was a clear sign Eickhoff had some possible greatness.
During Eickhoff's first full MLB season, he's faced the NL East-leading Nats just once. On Aug. 30, Eickhoff produced a quality start against the Nationals, holding the explosive Washington offense to three runs in six innings.
While he was outdueled by Scherzer, the 26-year-old righty held his own as he has done all year. While the rest of the rotation has had some strong downswings or injuries, Eickhoff has taken the ball every day and kept the Phillies in games against all types of opponents. When he does that against playoff teams like the Nats, it's a welcome sign of hope for the future in Philadelphia.
3. Get to the Nats' bullpen
Whether it's Scherzer or Roark or the injured Stephen Strasburg, the Nationals have some strong starting pitching that can dominate the Phillies. But the bullpen can be shaky at times.
Look no further than Friday. Roark handed the Nationals a lead with a six-inning, one-run appearance that would be good enough for most nights. But in the eighth inning, the Nationals turned to Koda Glover, a 23-year-old rookie, and he betrayed manager Dusty Baker's confidence. Glover hit Aaron Altherr, walked Andres Blanco and gave up a towering three-run shot to Cameron Rupp, blowing the lead.
Closer Mark Melancon struck out two in the ninth, but even he has struggled at times, giving up three runs over his last two appearances going into Friday. He's certainly better than Jonathan Papelbon, who the Nationals released, and hasn't blown a save in Washington since coming over at the deadline.
Normal set-up man Shawn Kelley hasn't been quite as good in the second half. After a 2.76 ERA in the first half, he has a 3.71 mark in the second half has a .787 OPS against comapred to .664 in the first half.
4. Players to watch
Phillies: Peter Bourjos is 7 for 25 this month and has accumulated four extra-base hits, including a home run during Thursday's win.
Nationals: Bryce Harper has had a down season after his MVP 2015, but he hit .310 in August and has rebounded a bit, knocking an RBI single Friday during the Nationals' victory.
5. This and that
• Triple A Lehigh Valley's season came to a quick end with a three-game sweep at the hands of the Scranton RailRiders, the Yankees' affiliate. A three-run first inning and eight-run fourth did the IronPigs in. The good news is that it enables the Phillies to make a slew of September call-ups and check out some younger players in the next few weeks.
Phil Klein, who made a spot start in August for the Phils, gave up 10 runs (eight earned) while recording just 10 outs.
• Roman Quinn and Jorge Alfaro won't be joining the Phils just yet. Double A Reading rebounded in a big way after falling behind 2-0 in their best-of-five series. The Fightin Phils' offense broke out in a 13-5 win. Alfaro hit two home runs, while Rhys Hoskins hit one as well in the blowout victory.
• Odubel Herrera, who left Friday's game with a knee injury, is 7 for 22 with five walks against Scherzer. Ryan Howard, Tyler Goeddel, Rupp and Blanco each have home runs off the righty.
• Daniel Murphy is just 1 for 9 off Eickhoff while Harper is 1 for 6. Both Wilson Ramos and Werth are 2 for 6. Current Nationals hold a .599 OPS against Eickhoff.
• Saturday will be the third straight start by a Phillies pitcher acquired in the Cole Hamels deal from July 2015 — Alec Asher and Jake Thompson started the first two games of the series.