Monday's contest will mark the first time Jake Arrieta will face his old team. Ironically, he'll be facing Yu Darvish who essentially took over his role in the starting rotation following the 2017 season.
Arrieta spent five seasons in Chicago and won a Cy Young Award in 2015 and a World Series in 2016.
“Obviously I’m going to approach it like any other start as far as my preparation and everything, but sure, it’s a little different because I played there for four and a half years,” Arrieta told MLB.com over the weekend. “I’m just trying to approach it as two really good teams at the top of their divisions battling for a four-game set.”
In his last time out, Arrieta surrendered four runs on five hits over six innings to Milwaukee in a loss this past week.
Darvish, meanwhile, is 2-3 with a 5.14 ERA entering Monday. He struck out 11 though in his most recent outing over just 5 1/3 innings.
The Phillies embark on this trip with a 2 1/2 game lead in the division while sitting eight games over .500.
Harper Getting Hot?
Over his last five games, Bryce Harper is 7-for-20 with three doubles and two home runs. He's slashing just .235/.371/.476, but he appears to be coming out his funk and hit some balls really well this past weekend.
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