Philadelphia @ New York preview

Last Meeting ( Aug 28, 2013 ) Philadelphia 6, NY Mets 2

The Philadelphia Phillies can make it three consecutive series wins when they visit the New York Mets on Thursday afternoon in the finale of a four-game set. Philadelphia has won two of three in the series and is 8-3 overall in its last 11 games to pull a game ahead of New York for third place in the National League East. Phillies slugger Domonic Brown (Achilles) is expected to be out of the lineup for a fifth straight game and rookie Cody Asche is iffy due to a mild hamstring strain.

Thursday was New York ace Matt Harvey's scheduled start, but the young standout is done for the season with a partially torn ligament in his elbow that may require surgery. The Mets have dropped six of seven and scored a total of eight runs in the losses. New York used four relievers in Wednesday's defeat following a shoddy performance by starter Daisuke Matsuzaka and could be forced to turn to the bullpen early Thursday with reliever Carlos Torres making his first start in a month.

TV: 1:10 p.m. ET, CSN (Philadelphia), SNY (New York)

PITCHING MATCHUP: Phillies RH Ethan Martin (2-2, 6.33 ERA) vs. Mets RH Carlos Torres (2-2, 2.96)

Martin followed the longest outing of his brief career with the shortest, failing to get out of the first inning in a loss to Arizona on Saturday. That came on the heels of a strong performance against Colorado in his previous start, when he gave up two runs on four hits in 6 1/3 innings. Martin has been prone to the long ball, giving up at least one in each of his five starts and six overall in 21 1/3 innings.

Season-ending njuries to Harvey and Jenrry Mejia have forced the Mets to shift Torres back into the starting rotation. He made three spot starts last month, giving up one run in each of the first two before he was shelled for eight runs in three innings at Washington on July 28. Torres has made 13 appearances out of the bullpen since then, not allowing a run in 10 of them.

WALK-OFFS

1. Phillies 3B Michael Young has three straight two-hit games in the series and is batting .404 against the Mets this season.

2. Asche is riding a nine-game hitting streak.

3. Philadelphia has won nine of its last 12 games in New York.

PREDICTION: Phillies 5, Mets 4