Is there seriously any question who will man the cleanup spot for the Phillies in this afternoon's series finale against the defending champion Cubs at Citizens Bank Park?
Don't answer that. It was a rhetorical question.
Of course, rookie sensation Rhys Hoskins will be in the cleanup hole for Pete Mackanin today. If you haven't heard, the kid is just on fire as he hit his 10th home run of the season last night in just his 17th game. No one else in the history of baseball has ever done that. In his 17 games with the big club, Hoskins, who will be in left field today, is batting .300 with those 10 homers and 23 RBIs. He's currently riding an eight-game hitting streak during which he's batting .400 with seven homers and 18 RBIs.
His two-run homer in the first last night accounted for the Phils' only runs of the evening as they were demolished by the Cubs.
Other Phillies are playing Sunday as well, in case you were wondering.
Veteran Pedro Florimon draws back into Pete Mackanin's starting nine. The 30-year-old has shown well with the Phils in eight games since his call-up from Lehigh Valley. Florimon, who will start in center and bat seventh today vs. Chicago, is batting .318 with three doubles and four RBIs with the big club.
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Cameron Rupp will get the start behind the plate today for the Phils. He's struggled at the plate as he's hitting just .230 on the season. But over the last 10 games, things have dipped even more for Rupp as he's hitting just .188 in that span. He'll bat eighth today.
Hoskins, Florimon, Rupp and the rest of the Phillies will face Cubs righty John Lackey today. The 15-year veteran enters today's matchup with a 10-9 record and 4.90 ERA on the season. He earned a win over the Phils back on May 4 at Wrigley Field but wasn't all that sharp as he surrendered three runs and nine hits over six innings.
The struggling Nick Pivetta takes the hill for the Phillies today. Pivetta, who enters today's game with a 4-9 record and 6.73 ERA, was just shelled by the Marlins on Tuesday when he gave six runs on seven hits in just 1 1/3 innings of work. Pivetta hasn't lasted into the sixth inning in his last four starts, three of which wound up in losses.
Today's full lineups for both teams can be found below:
Phillies
1. Cesar Hernandez, 2B
2. Freddy Galvis, SS
3. Nick Williams, RF
4. Rhys Hoskins, LF
5. Tommy Joseph, 1B
6. Maikel Franco, 3B
7. Pedro Florimon, CF
8. Cameron Rupp, C
9. Nick Pivetta, SP
Cubs
1. Ben Zobrist, RF
2. Kyle Schwarber, LF
3. Kris Bryant, 3B
4. Anthony Rizzo, 1B
5. Tommy La Stella, 2B
6. Javier Baez, SS
7. Jason Heyward, CF
8. Rene Rivera, C
9. John Lackey, SP
