Arizona Diamondbacks vs Philadelphia Phillies Picks and Predictions August 8th 2024

D-backs’ Task: Cool Phillies’ Sizzling Kyle Schwarber

At 9:40 PM ET, the Phillies and Diamondbacks face off in an NL matchup. This one is being played at Chase Field in Phoenix, and the Phillies are the slight road favorite on the money line (-114). The Diamondbacks are 63-52 overall and they are 2nd in the NL West, while the Phillies lead the NL East with a record of 68-46.

Thursday’s forecast in Phoenix calls for clear skies and temperatures in the mid-90s. Kolby Allard will start for the Phillies, while the Diamondbacks are going with Jordan Montgomery. Arizona is currently on a four-game winning streak, while the Phillies have won two straight.

Philadelphia vs. Arizona Key Information

Kolby Allard will be making his 2nd start of the season for the Phillies, and this time it comes on the road against the Diamondbacks. In his first outing, he went 4 innings and gave up 3 runs on 6 hits, but did strike out 4 batters. He started the season with a 4-inning relief appearance against the Mariners, where he gave up 1 run on 2 hits.

Philadelphia comes into today’s game as one of the top home run hitting teams in the league, and they have been one of the top offenses in the league this season, averaging 4.9 runs per game. At home, they are averaging 5.3 runs per contest, which is the best in the league. Overall, the Phillies are also one of the top hitting teams in the league, batting .256 as a team.

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Kyle Schwarber has been on a tear of late, hitting five home runs in his last seven games while batting .464. For the season, he is batting .261 with 27 homers. Alec Bohm is also on a good stretch, as he has a nine-game hitting streak going into today’s game. Bohm is batting .297 for the season and has driven in a team-high 78 runs.

Left-hander Jordan Montgomery gets the start for the Diamondbacks today as he faces the Phillies at home. He has made 16 starts this year and has a record of 7-5 with a 6.37 ERA. Montgomery’s WHIP for the season is 1.66, and opponents are batting .303 off him this year. In his 16 appearances, he has turned in five quality starts and is averaging 5.91 strikeouts per nine innings. Montgomery’s last outing came on August 3rd, where he gave up one earned run in three innings of work. He finished with a no-decision in that outing. Before that, he had given up at least six earned runs in three straight starts.

Arizona comes into today’s game as the top-scoring team in the league at 5.2 runs per game. They have been even better at home, averaging 5.2 runs per contest. The Diamondbacks are also one of the league’s top home run hitting teams, as their 137 homers is 8th in the league. As a team, they are batting .257, which is the 4th best mark in the league.

Ketel Marte has been one of the league’s top run producers this season, as his 80 RBIs is 7th in the league. He also leads the Diamondbacks with 29 homers. However, Marte has struggled of late, going just 4/20 in his last five games. Christian Walker is also near the top of the league in homers, as he is 2nd on the team with 23 homers.

Today’s Phillies vs. Diamondbacks matchup should feature plenty of offense, as this is our highest projected game in terms of hits and 2nd highest in runs. For an over/under pick, we would be leaning towards the over. As for how we would play the money line in this one, we would be leaning towards the Phillies to come out on top. Looking at today’s starters, Kolby Allard has the best innings pitched projection in the league today but doesn’t figure to put up big strikeout numbers. On the other side, Jordan Montgomery has an average innings pitched projection and is 12th among today’s starters in projected strikeouts.

Kyle Schwarber is heating up his power bat at a good time for the Philadelphia Phillies.

Schwarber’s Recent Power Surge

Schwarber has dove deep multiple times in the beyond four games, beat constantly three-homer round of his vocation, as the Philadelphia Phillies enter the opener of a four-game series on Thursday against the streaking Arizona Diamondbacks in Phoenix. The set is a rematch of last season’s National League Title Series, during which the Diamondbacks went headed straight toward win the last two challenges of the seven-game series and record a significant bombshell.

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Schwarber certainly wasn’t to blame for Philadelphia’s stunning postseason collapse. He swatted five homers, but all were of the solo variety.

Wednesday’s Performance

He was at his best on Wednesday, belting three homers while matching his career high of seven RBIs in a 9-4 road victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers. Schwarber homered leading off the first inning, then contributed a two-run double in the fifth, a three-run homer in the sixth, and a solo blast in the ninth.

“The biggest thing is just being able to come through for the team,” said Schwarber, who increased his season homer tally to 27. “There were a lot of other cool things that were done by guys today.”

Phillies’ Recent Form

The NL East-leading Phillies have won three of their past four games after losing 12 of their previous 15. The two teams met in Philadelphia in June, when the Phillies claimed two of the three from the Diamondbacks.

Diamondbacks’ Impressive Run

Arizona swept a road doubleheader from the Cleveland Guardians on Wednesday, running its winning streak to four games and improving to 14-4 since the All-Star break. The impressive run goes deeper than that, too. Arizona is 10-0-1 over its past 11 series and has prevailed in 24 of its past 33 games.

The Diamondbacks went more than three months without being above .500 until cracking the barrier on July 12. Now they sit 11 games over the break-even mark and are tied with the San Diego Padres for the NL’s top wild-card spot.

Key Players for Arizona

Josh Ringer hit two homeruns in Arizona’s 5-3 dominate in Match 2 on Wednesday. He has dove deep multiple times in six games since being obtained from the Miami Marlins. Ketel Marte, Geraldo Perdomo, and Corbin Carroll each homered as the Diamondbacks took the Wednesday opener 7-3. Carroll has six homers in his beyond 19 games in the wake of slugging only three in his past 92 appearances this season.

“We revolve around him,” Diamondbacks right-hander Brandon Pfaadt said of Carroll. “He’s had his struggles, but regardless — we’re playing ball around him. He’s able to do it on both sides of the plate and that speaks volumes to the type of player he is.”

Pitching Matchup

Struggling left-hander Jordan Montgomery (7-5, 6.37 ERA) will start the series opener for Arizona. Montgomery, 31, defeated the Phillies on June 21 when he gave up two runs and five hits over six innings. Overall, he is 1-1 with a 6.30 ERA in two career starts against Philadelphia. Bryce Harper is 2-for-5 in the regular season against Montgomery. Despite his poor campaign, Montgomery has won four of his past five decisions.

Phillies’ Starter: Kolby Allard

Left-hander Kolby Allard (0-0, 4.50 ERA) will start for the Phillies. This will be his third significant league appearance and second start of the time. Allard was the second pitcher into the game against the Seattle Sailors on Saturday, and he surrendered one run and two hits more than four innings. Allard, who turns 27 on Tuesday, has contributed against Arizona just once his vocation. He surrendered one hit in two shutout innings of alleviation in 2020. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. is 2-for-2 against Allard.

Injury Concerns

Phillies outfielder Austin Roughages (left hamstring snugness) left the Wednesday game against the Dodgers in the third inning.