MLB LOOK AHEAD

Phillies’ Arrieta faces Diamondbacks’ Greinke

The Sports Xchange

April 25, 2018 at 12:24 am.

Apr 19, 2018; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia Phillies starting pitcher Jake Arrieta (49) throws a pitch during the first inning against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Citizens Bank Park. Photo Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

Apr 19, 2018; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia Phillies starting pitcher Jake Arrieta (49) throws a pitch during the first inning against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Citizens Bank Park. Photo Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

A pair of former Cy Young Award winners will match up Wednesday night at Citizens Bank Park.

The Philadelphia Phillies’ Jake Arrieta will face Zack Greinke as the Phillies host the Arizona Diamondbacks in the second of a three-game series in Philadelphia. The pair of veteran right-handers are both coming off their best starts of 2018.

Arrieta (2-0, 2.04 ERA) struck out 10 and gave up just one hit to the Pirates over seven scoreless innings last Thursday while picking up the win. It was the sharpest of three starts in a Phillies uniform for Arrieta, who won the National League Cy Young Award in 2015 with the Chicago Cubs.

Arrieta signed a three-year, $75 million deal with the Phillies in mid-March and said he feels like he is getting into a groove with his new team.

“Three starts in, to be able to do that as well as I did (Thursday), it’s a good sign,” Arrieta told reporters after silencing the Pirates. “Combined with spring training and my three starts, that’s probably five or six starts. I was a little behind, but now I’m caught up.”

The 10 strikeouts for Arrieta were the most he had in a game since April 9, 2017, and they came after he recorded just six strikeouts in his first two starts of the season combined.

Arrieta is 3-3 with a 2.76 ERA and 1.073 WHIP in seven career starts against the Diamondbacks. He faced them twice last year, going 1-1 with a 1.38 ERA.

Greinke (2-1, 4.13) has had considerable career success against the Phillies. He is 8-1 with a 2.48 ERA, 0.903 WHIP and .192 batting average against in 11 appearances (10 starts) when he faces Philadelphia.

Greinke, who has four All-Star appearances to go with his 2009 American League Cy Young Award, had his best start of 2018 in his last appearance. He surrendered just one run on three hits and one walk over seven innings against the Giants on Thursday.

“He gave us seven incredible innings, working both edges of the plate,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said of Greinke after the start. “He had a great mixture of pitches. He and (catcher Jeff Mathis) got in a great rhythm and turned it over to the bullpen.”

Greinke’s strong start against San Francisco came after he allowed at least four earned runs in back-to-back outings against the Cardinals and Dodgers.

Greinke will try to keep up a string of strong pitching from the Diamondbacks, who have a team ERA of 2.80 in 22 games this season. Arizona pitchers have gone seven straight games without allowing more than four runs.

Offensively, the Diamondbacks got three home runs — one each from Alex Avilia, Jarrod Dyson and Daniel Descalso — in an 8-4 win in Tuesday’s series opener. It marked the eighth straight win for the Diamondbacks at Citizens Bank Park. They swept a series in Philadelphia in both the 2017 and 2016 seasons and have not lost in the City of Brotherly Love since May 17, 2015.

A win on Wednesday or Thursday would give the Diamondbacks their eighth straight series win to start the 2018 season.

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