Rockies at Phillies
Bryce Harper may be starting to heat up with the bat and the former National League MVP will try to help the Philadelphia Phillies finish off a three-game sweep of the visiting Colorado Rockies on Sunday afternoon. Harper, who signed a 13-year, $330 million contract in the offseason, doubled home two runs Friday and belted a solo homer among two hits in Saturday’s 2-1 victory to raise his batting average to .230.
Harper has gone deep eight times and knocked in 28 runs this year, but leads baseball with 61 strikeouts and is batting .196 in his home park despite hitting safely in the last four games while going 5-for-15. Jerad Eickhoff looks to rebound from his worst start of the season when he takes the ball in the series finale for the NL East-leading Phillies while Colorado counters with left-hander Kyle Freeland, who registered his best performance of the season with six scoreless innings against Philadelphia on April 18. The Rockies, who came into the series with seven wins in the last eight against Philadelphia, have lost three in a row after winning four of five as their see-saw season continues. Nolan Arenado is batting .397 in May for Colorado while teammate Charlie Blackmon has hit safely in 24 of his last 26 games to lead the offense, but the Rockies have lost three straight one-run contests - dropping to 5-9 on the season.
TV: 1:05 p.m. ET, AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain (Colorado), NBCS Philadelphia
PITCHING MATCHUP: Rockies LH Kyle Freeland (2-5, 5.68 ERA) vs. Phillies RH Jerad Eickhoff (2-2, 2.65)
Freeland has gone four outings without a victory, allowing 21 runs combined over 23 innings during that stretch, but posted a quality start Tuesday at Boston with six frames of three-run ball. The 26-year-old Denver native, who was 17-7 with a 2.85 ERA last year, has served up 12 homers in his nine 2019 starts. Jean Segura is 2-for-5 with a homer versus Freeland, who has not allowed a run in two career appearances against the Phillies with eight strikeouts.
Eickhoff struggled last time out, yielding five runs on eight hits (two homers) over four innings in a loss to Milwaukee, after stringing together three strong outings. The 28-year-old Indiana native limited his previous three opponents to one run and eight hits across 20 innings while recording a pair of victories. Tony Wolters is 6-for-11 with a double, triple and a homer against Eickhoff, who gave up four runs over six innings to lose his first start of this season at Colorado.
WALK-OFFS
1. Colorado OF Raimel Tapia is 13-for-35 over his last nine contests after notching a pair of hits Saturday.
2. Segura has hit safely in nine straight games, going 14-for-37 during the streak with five RBIs.
3. Rockies INF Brendan Rodgers, the third pick in the 2015 draft, notched his first major league hit Saturday.