Phillies look to stay hot against slumping Royals

The Philadelphia Phillies will be searching for their third consecutive victory when they visit the Kansas City Royals on Friday night.

The Phillies took the final two games on the road against the St. Louis Cardinals, outscoring them 16-1.

Second baseman Cesar Hernandez will look to stay hot on the road, coming off a three-hit, three-RBI game in Wednesday's 5-0 win in St. Louis. Hernandez has five hits in his last three games and his average is up to .305.

"I've been working really hard from the beginning of the season," Hernandez told reporters about his resurgence. "Things didn't start off the way I wanted them, but I have confidence in myself. I know what I'm capable of, so you just gotta go day by day."

The Phillies will hand the ball to right-hander Jake Arrieta, who has a 4-2 record and 3.40 ERA. But though Arrieta has tossed at least six innings in seven of his last eight starts, he has a 5.29 ERA over his last three starts.

In Arrieta's last start, he allowed three runs in six innings, but the bullpen imploded in a 10-8 loss to the Washington Nationals. Arrieta was lifted for a pinch hitter with runners on second and third with one out.

"The one thing I maintain is that we're going to be aggressive at every turn," Phillies manager Gabe Kapler told the media in defending his decision to pull Arrieta. "We're going to try to win games when we have a chance to win ballgames. In that situation, with a runner on second and third with one out, it was pretty much the only situation, we were going to hit for him."

The reeling Royals enter the game at 13-25 and just 8-11 at home.

In Wednesday's 9-0 loss at Houston, the Royals struck out 17 times and saw catcher Martin Maldonado and manager Ned Yost ejected in the seventh inning for arguing balls and strikes.

Kansas City will hand the ball to Homer Bailey (3-3, 5.25) to start a six-game homestand.

This will be the eighth start of the season for Bailey, who went six innings and gave up seven hits and two runs in his last outing, Saturday at Detroit. The Royals handily won that game 15-3.

Bailey didn't appear to have his best stuff, but managed to pick up his third win nonetheless.

"Why are you talking to me," Bailey joked to reporters. "We put up 15 runs today. The credit goes to the offense ... gotta give them some love."

Despite the fact that the Royals are struggling in almost every aspect, Yost remains upbeat. In fact, he picked up his 700th career victory with the franchise with Tuesday's 12-2 win at Houston -- a game in which Whit Merrifield and Ryan O'Hearn each hit grand slams.

"If this was about numbers, I probably would've retired a couple years ago after we won a world championship, or the year after," Yost told reporters. "It's not. It's about taking this organization back to a championship-caliber status."

--Field Level Media