Phillies' quest for first-round bye continues with streaking Marlins

If the Philadelphia Phillies are going to go deep into October, they know they'll need to lean heavily on Cristopher Sanchez.

Sanchez takes the mound for a key postseason tuneup Tuesday when the Phillies welcome the Miami Marlins to town for the opener of a three-game set.

Sanchez (13-5, 2.66 ERA) is headed for a high finish in the National League Cy Young Award race, but more importantly, he needs to be the ace of the Philadelphia rotation with Zack Wheeler out for the season.

The Phillies juggled their rotation to get Sanchez on the mound Tuesday to create room for an additional potential start Sunday in the regular-season finale if that game has stakes for the team's postseason seed. Otherwise, this timing lines Sanchez up to start the team's first playoff game.

"We can manipulate a lot of things after (Tuesday's start)," Philadelphia manager Rob Thomson said. "But Sanchy's the key right now."

The left-hander is coming off a performance against the Los Angeles Dodgers in which he gave up four runs in seven innings. He allowed three runs in the second inning before settling down.

"He grinded and he did a great job," Thomson said of Sanchez, who is 3-0 with a 1.27 ERA in his career against the Marlins, including 2-0 with a 1.20 ERA in two starts this year.

The Phillies are coming off a 3-3 road trip in which they took two of three against the Dodgers before losing two of three against the Arizona Diamondbacks. The team suffered a 9-2 defeat Sunday, although Alec Bohm went 4-for-4 with a walk.

"He just lengthens the lineup," Bryce Harper said of Bohm, who was recently activated off the injured list after missing 10 days with left shoulder inflammation. "When he gets hot, when he gets going, he's one of the better guys in our lineup."

Philadelphia (92-64) leads Los Angeles (88-68) by four games in the race for the second and final bye in the NL playoffs.

"I want to clinch the bye, for sure," Harper said. "That's the biggest thing for all of us."

Miami (76-80) has won six games in a row and has yet to be eliminated from playoff contention. While the team's postseason odds are under 1 percent, Marlins manager Clayton McCullough is holding on to whatever hope remains.

"(We're) keeping an eye on what's going around the league," McCullough said. "It's an exciting time in baseball, and so keeping an eye on it and understanding that none of it matters unless we go take care of business and win as many as we can."

Miami won three tight games against the Texas Rangers over the weekend and now will turn to Edward Cabrera (7-7, 3.57). The right-hander has not pitched since late August due to an elbow issue -- and he struggled in three of his last four outings before getting injured.

The Marlins were patient with Cabrera as he rehabbed, but they always wanted to get him back on a major league mound before the end of the season.

"He wants to give it a go and wants to throw, and just see how his arm feels after he starts to ramp up the intensity," McCullough said earlier this month. "I think we're just going to have this very much be a day-to-day-type thing as the intensity increases and (see) how ‘Cabbie' feels with everything."

Cabrera has made one start against the Phillies this season. He gave up just one run and two hits in 6 1/3 innings in a 2-1 loss on June 19.

--Field Level Media