The Diamondbacks and the Phillies play game two of the NLCS at 7 PM EDT in Philadelphia. Merrill Kelly takes on Aaron Nola. With the sweep in the Wild Card Round, the Diamondbacks were able to give Kelly plenty of rest , and he shutout the Dodgers for 6 1/3 innings. This will be Kelly’s second time pitching in Philadelphia. On 6/12/2019, he threw 7 2/3 shutout innings, allowing three hits while striking out five.

Nola pitched better than his 4.46 ERA this season. FanGraphs puts his xFIP at 3.63, about 0.8 runs lower than his ERA. It was a timing issue as batters slugged .395 against him with the bases empty, but .482 against him with men on base. Slugging average is a measure of distance; the higher the slugging, the farther a batter can move runners around the bases.

Nick Castellanos of the Phillies looks to break a record tonight. He is tied with Henry Aaron and Donn Clendenon as the only players to homer in three straight post-season games.

Enjoy!