Philadelphia @ San Diego preview

Last Meeting ( Jul 22, 2018 ) San Diego 0, Philadelphia 5

The Philadelphia Phillies are clinging to first place in the National League East but are not off to a great start on their road trip. The Phillies will try to turn the page when they continue the trip by visiting the last-place San Diego Padres in the opener of a three-game series on Friday.

Philadelphia, which enters the weekend one game up on the Atlanta Braves in the NL East, dropped two of three at NL West-leading Arizona to begin the trip, capped by a 6-0 loss in Wednesday's series finale. "We know how to turn the page. We don't let losses linger," Phillies manager Gabe Kapler told reporters. "You're going to go into a city like Phoenix against a very good team, and sometimes, you're going to win the series and there are going to be times where they just play better. Over the course of this series, they played better than us. It's part of baseball. But we will not carry that into San Diego. We will bring strength and enthusiasm and our brand of baseball to San Diego. I'm very confident we're going to perform well there." The Padres may be sitting in the NL West basement but are coming in hot after capping their road trip with an 8-4 win at Milwaukee on Thursday that featured a go-ahead grand slam in the ninth inning by Hunter Renfroe, who homered in each of the last four games. Renfroe will try to stay hot behind right-hander Jacob Nix, who is set to make his major-league debut on Friday opposite Phillies righty Zach Eflin.

TV: 10:10 p.m. ET, NBCS Philadelphia, FS San Diego

PITCHING MATCHUP: Phillies RH Zach Eflin (8-3, 3.61 ERA) vs. Padres RH Jacob Nix (NR)

Eflin worked a season-high eight innings in a win over the Miami Marlins on Saturday, surrendering three runs and four hits without walking a batter. The 24-year-old surrendered a pair of home runs in that start and was reached for a total of six blasts in his last three turns. Eflin is seeing San Diego for the first time in his career and is 3-2 with a 4.01 ERA in eight starts on the road in 2018.

Nix is getting the call after going 3-3 with a 1.84 ERA in 10 starts split between Double-A San Antonio and Triple-A El Paso. The 22-year-old was a third-round pick out of high school in 2015 and reached Double-A in 2017 before dominating the upper levels of the minors in 2018. Nix owns 44 strikeouts and nine walks across 58 2/3 total innings this season.

WALK-OFFS

1. Phillies RF Nick Williams went 0-for-4 with four strikeouts on Wednesday and totaled seven K's in the three games at Arizona.

2. San Diego RF Franmil Reyes is 9-for-15 with three homers, six runs scored and five RBIs in his last four games.

3. Philadelphia INF Scott Kingery is 0-for-20 in his last nine games, dropping his batting average to .223.

PREDICTION: Phillies 6, Padres 3