PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES (5-8) vs. NEW YORK METS (7-7) Wednesday, April 19, 2017 – Citi Field – 7:10 p.m. EDT – Game 14; Road 8 RHP Vince Velasquez (0-2, 9.00) vs. RHP Robert Gsellman (0-1, 9.28) LAST NIGHT’S ACTION: The Phillies defeated the New York Mets, 6-2, in 10 innings at Citi Field in New York … Starter Zach Eflin (ND) made his season debut; he tossed 5.0 innings and allowed 2 runs PHILLIES PHACTS on 3 hits with 3 walks and 4 strikeouts … The Phils were trailing 2-1 with two outs in the 8th inning when Record: 5-8 (.385) Cameron Rupp scored on a pinch-hit double by Andres Blanco to tie the game … The Phils would score Home: 2-4 4 runs in the top of the 10th inning to snap their three game losing streak against the Mets. Road: 3-4 Current Streak: Won 1 Last 5 Games: 2-3 TRANSACTIONS: Prior to tonight’s game, RHP Pat Neshek was placed on the paternity list … To take Last 10 Games: 4-6 his place on the 25-man roster, RHP Ben Lively was recalled from Lehigh Valley (AAA) … Lively will Series Record: 1-3-0 wear #49. Sweeps/Swept: 0/1 MAIK IN NEED OF SOME MAGIC: Third baseman Maikel Franco has gotten off to a rough start and PHILLIES VS. METS is mired in an 0-for-17 slump heading into tonight’s game … But, Franco has been the victim of incredible th 2017 Record: 1-3 bad luck thus far … According to MLB’s Statcast data, Franco’s 93.2 MPH average exit velocity ranks 11 2017 at Home: 0-3 among all major league hitters with at least 30 at bats this season, yet he is hitting just .160 (8-50) due 2017 at NYM: 1-0 to a .143 batting average on balls in play … Additional positive trends for Franco would be the fact that All-Time Record: 494-459 his walk rate has increased from last year (6.3 % to 8.9%) and his strikeout rate has dropped (16.8% All-Time at Citizens Bank Park: 53-70 to 12.5%) … Lastly, Franco is seeing 3.98 pitches per plate appearance this season after averaging 3.56 All-Time at Citi Field: 33-39 P/PA from 2014-16. Current Streak: Won 1 HAIL CESAR!: Over his last 101 games (443 plate appearances, 6/20/16-current), second baseman PHILLIES ON THE ROAD Cesar Hernandez is batting .329 with a .415 OBP, .454 SLG % and 16 stolen bases … Among all major Games Played: 7 league players with at least 400 plate appearances in that span, Hernandez’s .415 OBP ranks 6th in the Record: 3-4 (.429) majors, trailing only CIN’s Joey Votto (.462), LAA’s Mike Trout (.460), ATL’s Freddie Freeman (.437), COL’s DJ LeMahieu (.429) and TOR’s Josh Donaldson (.420) … Hernandez has hit safely in each of AVG/OBP/SLG: .214/.288/.370 his last 11 games (.388 AVG, since 4/6), one game shy of his career-best 12-game hitting Runs/Runs Per Game: 24/3.43 Home Runs: 8 streak, June 26 to July 7, 2015. Stolen Bases: 4 RAGING BULL: Center fielder Odubel Herrera has reached base safely in 22 consecutive games in ERA: 3.65 which he has started (since 9/22/16), and 22 of his last 23 games overall (went 0-1 as a PH, 4/16 at Starters W-L: 2-1 WSH) … Selected by the Phillies in the 2014 Rule 5 draft, and having never played above double-A Starters ERA: 3.40 before his MLB debut, Herrera was batting .243 with a .275 OBP and .353 SLG % through his first 68 Relievers W-L: 1-3 career games (232 plate appearances, 4/6-6/26/15) … Since then, he is batting .303 with a .373 OBP Relievers ERA: 4.09 Saves/Opp: 2/4 and .435 SLG % (1,014 plate appearances, 6/28/15-current). THANKS FOR YOUR PATIENCE: The Phillies lead the majors with an average of 4.10 pitches per plate PHILLIES AT A GLANCE appearance this season (2,030 pitches, 495 PA) … Last year, the Phillies ranked 27th in baseball as they April: 5-8 Monday: 1-1 averaged 3.81 P/PA (22,830 pitches, 5,992 PA) … They are averaging a walk every 11.00 plate May: 0-0 Tuesday: 1-1 appearances (45 BB, 495 PA), which ranks 5th in the National League … This comes following a spring June: 0-0 Wednesday: 0-2 July: 0-0 Thursday: 0-1 in which they ranked fifth among all major league clubs with 128 walks in 36 games (3.56 BB/G) … Aug: 0-0 Friday: 0-2 Philadelphia’s 3.56 walks per game rate was their highest in any spring training since online data was Sept: 0-0 Saturday: 2-0 tracked starting in 2006. Oct: 0-0 Sunday: 1-1 SWEET RELIEF: After allowing 8 runs on 4/11 vs NYM, the Phillies bullpen has combined to post a 2.55 vs East: 4-6 Day: 3-4 ERA (5 ER, 17.2 IP) over the last five games, holding opponents to just 8 hits in 59 AB (.136) in those vs Cent: 1-2 Night: 2-4 st 5 games … The .136 OPP AVG by Phillies relievers in the last week (since 4/12) is the lowest in the vs West: 0-0 1Half: 5-8 vs AL: 0-0 2nd Half: 0-0 major leagues, while their .220 OPP SLG % and .250 OPP OBP rank 5th and 8th, respectively. RISPY BUSINESS: After starting the season 1-for-17 (.059 AVG) with runners in scoring position during INSTANT REPLAY RESULTS *Manager’s challenges, since 2014 their opening series against the Cincinnati Reds, the Phillies have gone 26-for-79 (.329) with RISP over their last 10 games (4/7-current) … In that span their .329 AVG ranks 3rd-best in the majors and their PHI All-Time Challenges: 118 .919 OPS with RISP ranks 6th … With RISP since April 7, Philadelphia’s combination of Cesar Hernandez, Overturned: 63 Success Rate: 53.3% Odubel Herrera, Tommy Joseph, Howie Kendrick and Michael Saunders are batting .447 (17-38) with 21 RBI. 2017 Challenges: 2 Overturned: 1 WHAT MORE CAN I SAY?: If the Phillies can win one of their next two games against the Mets they Success Rate: 50.0% will win clinch their first series victory against New York since April 8-10, 2016 (2-1) … The Phillies have Last Challenge: 4/16 at WSH lost each of their six previous series against the Mets (0-6-0, since 4/18/16) … Since 2014, the Phillies Situation: B3, 2 outs, bases empty have an 19-42 record against the Mets (.311 win %) and have been outscored, 349-224 (-125 run Result: CONFIRMED: After viewing all differential) … In that same span, against all other National League East teams, the Phillies are 79-98 relevant angles, the Replay Official (.446 win %) and have been outscored 715-637 (-78 run differential) … From 2007-2013, the Phillies definitively determined that the batter- were 68-59 against the Mets (.535) with a +35 run differential (589-554). runner's foot touched first base prior to the ball contacting the interior of the fielder's glove. AIN’T NO LOVE, IN THE HEART OF THE CITI: The Phillies won 24 of their first 40 games at Citi Field from May 6, 2009 to July 19, 2013 (.600 win %) … Since then, the Phillies have lost 23 of 35 games in Queens (.397 win %) including 19 of their previous 29 contests (5/9/14-current). PHILLIES RECORD WHEN THEY… Score First: 4-4 Lead After 6: 4-2 Lead After 7: 3-0 Lead After 8: 4-0 Out-Hit Opp: 5-1 Last AB Decisions: 1-1 Opp. Score First: 1-4 Tied After 6: 0-1 Tied After 7: 1-2 Tied After 8: 1-2 Hits equal: 0-1 Walk-off Decisions: 1-2 Score 4 or more: 5-4 Trail After 6: 1-5 Trail After 7: 1-6 Trail After 8: 0-6 Out-Hit by Opp: 0-6 Starter goes > 6.0 IP 1-2 Score 3 or less: 0-4 Hit no HR: 1-0 Starter goes 6.0 IP 1-1 Hit at least 1 HR: 4-8 Starter goes < 6.0 IP 3-5 UPCOMING PROBABLE PITCHERS & BROADCAST SCHEDULE DATE TIME PROBABLE PITCHERS TV Thursday, April 20 at NYM 7:10 EDT RHP Aaron Nola (1-0, 3.27) vs RHP Noah Syndergaard (1-0, 0.95) CSN Friday, April 21 vs ATL 7:05 EDT RHP Bartolo Colon (1-1, 4.24) vs RHP Jeremy Hellickson (2-0, 0.82) CSN Saturday, April 22 vs ATL 7:05 EDT LHP Jaime Garcia (0-1, 4.67) vs RHP Jerad Eickhoff (0-1, 2.75) CSN Sunday, April 23 vs ATL 1:35 EDT RHP Mike Foltynewicz (0-2, 4.26) vs RHP Zach Eflin (0-0, 3.60) CSN 2017 PHILLIES NOTES TONIGHT’S STARTER PAGE 2 VINCE VELASQUEZ RHP #28 VELASQUEZ – 2017 DAY-BY-DAY Height: 6-3 Weight: 205 Age: 24 (born: 6/7/92) DATE-OPP DECISION IP H R ER HR BB SO ERA 4/7 vs WSH L, 7-6 4.0 5 4 4 2 3 10 9.00 2017: 0-2, 9.00 ERA Career: 9-9, 4.42 ERA 4/12 vs NYM L, 5-4 5.0 5 5 5 1 4 7 9.00 LAST START: 4/12 vs NYM: L, 5.0 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 4 BB, 7 SO, 1 HR, 1 HB … APRIL 0-2 9.0 10 9 9 3 7 17 9.00 Velasquez vs Wheeler … New York scored a run in both the first and third 2017 HIGHS CAREER HIGHS innings and tacked on 3 more in the fifth to go ahead 5-0 … Maikel Franco clubbed his second career grand slam to pull Philadelphia within a run in the 5.0, 4/12 vs NYM IP 9.0, 4/14/16 vs SD eighth … The Phillies had the tying run on base and winning run at the plate 5, 2x, last: 4/12 vs NYM H 11, 8/9/16 at LAD with nobody out in the ninth, but could not complete the comeback.