The Philadelphia Phillies are enjoying their current homestand and hope the success continues when they open a three-game series versus the Chicago White Sox Friday from Citizens Bank Park.
The Phillies are 5-2 on the homestand and have won seven of their last 10 games overall. They just took three of four matchups with the NL East-rival Washington Nationals and completed the set with Thursday's 3-1 win behind seven solid innings from Kyle Kendrick, who allowed one run and bounced back from two rough starts. He ended a personal two-game slide and gave up 10 runs over that span.
"We scored runs when we needed to. I knew they had their horse throwing tonight, so I had to keep the game close and give us a chance to win. I was able to do that, and our guys put up some big runs when we needed to," Kendrick said.
Kevin Frandsen delivered a pinch-hit RBI double in the seventh inning and Ben Revere added two hits and an RBI for the Phillies, who are 1 1/2 games behind Washington for second in the NL East and 7 1/2 games in back of Atlanta. Revere is riding a nine-game hitting streak and is batting .441 with seven RBI and 26 hits in his last 14 games.
Jonathan Pettibone will try to keep the Phillies rolling when he takes the mound Friday. He has won back-to-back starts, allowing just one run in each, and threw 5 1/3 innings against Atlanta in Sunday's 7-3 win. The young right- hander is 5-3 in 15 starts with a 3.84 earned run average.
Pettibone will face the White Sox for the first time and is 3-1 in eight home starts.
Chicago took two of three meetings at Detroit after losing four in a row and is coming off Thursday's 6-3 victory at Comerica Park. Chris Sale earned the win by holding the Tigers to three runs in 6 2/3 innings. He did allow 10 hits, but struck out eight batters.
Josh Phegley hit his first career grand slam, while Alejandro De Aza had a solo homer among three hits and two runs scored. The benches cleared in the sixth inning when White Sox shortstop Alexei Ramirez charged the mound after Tigers reliever Luke Putkonen threw a pitch behind him. No punches were thrown.
"It's just baseball, guys," Tigers catcher Brayan Pena said. "It's going to happen."
The White Sox are last in the AL Central and trail the division-leading Tigers by 13 games.
John Danks gets the call for Chicago Friday and he is 2-6 with a 4.31 earned run average in nine starts. He has lost four of his last five outings and allowed three runs over seven innings in Sunday's 3-1 loss at Tampa Bay.
Danks, a left-hander, has lost all five of his road assignments this season and has faced the Phillies once in his career, allowing two runs in 4 2/3 innings back on June 13, 2007 in an 8-4 loss.
The Phillies swept a three-game series with Chicago from June 11-13, 2007.
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