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Phillies-Braves Preview

Sep 20, 2015 - 3:40 AM The Atlanta Braves are aiming to sweep a series at home for the first time in three months.

Sending Julio Teheran to the mound against the Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday should give them a great chance.

Atlanta (59-90) had dropped 14 of its past 15 home games before Friday's 2-1 win over Philadelphia (56-93), the team with the worst record in baseball. The Braves rallied to win by the same score Saturday, putting them in position to sweep just their second home set of the season and first since taking all three games against the New York Mets from June 19-21.

Completing this sweep seems likely since Teheran (10-7, 4.34 ERA) is 5-1 with a 1.22 ERA over his last seven starts against the Phillies, winning all three this year while yielding three earned runs in 21 innings.

The right-hander dominated Philadelphia again Sept. 9, allowing one run and four hits in seven innings of an 8-1 road win. That's his only win over his last three starts despite compiling a 1.93 ERA.

Teheran labored through his latest outing Tuesday, throwing 113 pitches in 5 2-3 innings while giving up two runs and four walks with seven strikeouts in a 3-2 win over Toronto.

Freddie Freeman has two doubles on three hits in this series, with one of them driving in two runs Saturday. The first baseman is 10 for 18 with one homer, four doubles and eight RBIs in five home matchups with the Phillies this season.

He's hitting .339 with 14 RBIs in 15 overall in the series this year.

Philadelphia has dropped six straight on the road and is averaging 2.2 runs and batting .154 during a five-game overall losing streak. The Phillies were held to three hits Saturday, wasting seven shutout innings from rookie Jerad Eickhoff after going 0 for 11 with runners in scoring position while Adam Morgan allowed two runs in six innings in the opener.

"Score one run, get three hits (and) you're not going to win many games," interim manager Pete Mackanin said. "It's a shame that we've had two real good pitching performances the last two days, and they went for nothing."

Aaron Nola (6-2, 4.11) typically gets major help from the offense, as his average run support of 6.03 is a team high. The rookie right-hander, though, has been backed by 3.19 over his last five games.

He received two runs Monday, surrendering six and a season-high three homers while striking out a personal best of eight in five innings of an 8-7 loss in 11. That was a major letdown after he fanned seven while needing just 85 pitches to go seven innings in a 5-0 win over Atlanta six days earlier.

Nola earned a 12-2 win in his previous start against the Braves - also at home - by allowing two runs in five innings.

Freddy Galvis is 0 for 15 over the last four games after going 5 for 10 with a homer and four RBIs in the previous two. The shortstop could shake out of his funk since he's 5 for 10 versus Teheran, going 4 for 6 this year.