Phillies face Brewers seeking 4th straight win

The Philadelphia Phillies will be looking for their fourth straight victory when they host the Milwaukee Brewers in the second game of a four-game series on Tuesday night.

The Phillies won the final two games on the road against the Kansas City Royals last weekend, then took the opener against the Brewers in a four-hour plus marathon, including a 52-minute rain delay.

Cesar Hernandez homered and had two hits, two RBIs and three runs scored to help the Phillies rally from a 4-2 deficit.

The Phillies will hand the ball to right-hander Jerad Eickhoff, who is 2-1 with a minuscule 1.50 ERA. Philadelphia starter Aaron Nola struggled through three innings, and it took six relievers to lock down the win on Monday.

Last Wednesday at St. Louis, Eickhoff tossed eight scoreless innings and didn't allow a baserunner to reach second until the eighth.

Eickhoff has given up just one earned run over his last 20 innings.

"He pitches with a fearlessness," Phillies manager Gabe Kapler said. "Any pitch, any count. Secondary pitches behind in the count. He'll throw a slider outside of the zone when he's confident that he'll get a swing. And he'll fill it up, too."

Following Eickhoff's last outing, he said that throwing a variety of pitches for strikes helped his confidence.

"Early on, it was just really fastball, slider," Eickhoff said. "In the third inning, I finally started dropping the curveball in there. I was having a hard time getting it over for a strike and once that came, it kind of opened up everything else."

Phillies right fielder Bryce Harper went 0-for-4 Monday, including three strikeouts, and his average fell to .222. However, he made several plays in the field, including a diving catch with the bases loaded in the seventh inning with the score tied 4-4.

The Brewers have now dropped three in a row immediately following a seven-game win streak. Lorenzo Cain delivered the first five-hit game of his career in the Monday loss, despite making the game's final out.

The Brewers will turn to Brandon Woodruff to reverse their fortune. Woodruff is 5-1 with a 4.25 ERA in eight starts this season. He has allowed just three earned runs over the last 16 innings in three previous starts.

Through Woodruff's first five starts, he had a 5.81 ERA.

Last Wednesday, Woodruff tossed six strong innings in a 7-3 win over the Washington Nationals. He allowed four hits and one run while striking out a career-high nine against zero walks.

Woodruff has struck out at least six batters in each of his last seven starts, the most by a Milwaukee pitcher since Zack Greinke had seven in a row in 2011.

"I tell myself to just go out every inning and attack the guys, get strike one first and go right after them," Woodruff told reporters after his last start.

Ryan Braun is likely to return to the Brewers' starting lineup on Tuesday after not beginning the last three games. But Braun did enter as a pinch hitter and singled on Monday.

"Just trying to give him one more day and make sure we're good and not at risk here playing," Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. "Definitely making progress."

Braun has had unbelievable success through his career at Citizens Bank Park, going 57-for-139 (.410). He ranks first in hits among all players with at least 136 career at-bats in the ballpark.

--Field Level Media