The Philadelphia Phillies and the St. Louis Cardinals will play the rubber match of their current series and their season series Wednesday afternoon.

The teams have split the first two games of their series at Citizens Bank Park and are 3-3 against one another in 2018. Jake Arrieta and Michael Wacha will face off for the second time this season.

Arrieta (5-5 49ers Kentavius Street Jersey , 3.33 ERA), who spent four-and-a-half seasons with the Chicago Cubs, is familiar with the Cardinals. The veteran right-hander is 8-5 with a 2.38 ERA and a 9.5 K/9 rate in 18 career starts against St. Louis. The ERA is the third-lowest for Arrieta against any opponent he’s faced more than twice in his nine-year major league career.

Arrieta gave up four runs (two earned) in just three innings against the Cardinals during a rain-shortened start on May 18.

Arrieta also had a short outing the last time he was on the mound. Facing the Brewers last Friday, he surrendered eight runs (four earned) on seven hits and two walks over 3 1/3 innings. It marked the third straight start in which Arrieta gave up at least four earned runs, and his ERA has risen from 2.16 to 3.33 over that span.

Arrieta took blame after the 13-2 loss.

“It was (bad) all the way around,” he told mlb.com. “I single-handedly lost us the game. I put up a five-spot in the second inning, and it wasn’t because of the defense really. And again, if there’s a play on defense that’s not made, it’s our job to get the next guy out to pick that guy up. And I didn’t do that.”

Wacha (8-2, 3.24 ERA) is also coming off a short start.

The right-hander was hit hard against the Cubs on Friday. He allowed nine runs (eight earned) on seven hits and four walks in four innings. Wacha picked up just his second loss of the season and his first since his season debut against the New York Mets on March 31.

Wacha gave up three homers in the loss after allowing just three long balls in his previous 12 starts.

“They were all elevated Authentic Josh Rosen Jersey , middle of the plate,” Wacha told mlb.com. “I just have to do a better job of locating and getting it where I need it to go.”

Wacha tied his season-high with eight strikeouts against the Phillies on May 18. He allowed only two runs on five hits across six innings in that start, and has a 4.15 ERA in six career starts against Philadelphia.

Wacha will try to help the Cardinals win back-to-back games for the first time since June 8-9.

St. Louis was a 7-6 winner Tuesday night thanks in large part to Matt Carpenter. The infielder hit the game-winning home run in the ninth inning off Phillies reliever Seranthony Dominguez and also had a two-run double. Carpenter has homered in three straight contests and is hitting .316 in his last 13 games.

Carpenter has just four hits in 38 lifetime at-bats against Arrieta, but two of them have been home runs.

Marcus Stroman ended his winless drought against a Detroit Tigers team struggling to snap out of their worst losing streak in nearly 15 years.

Stroman pitched seven innings to get his first victory this season, Justin Smoak hit a two-run home run and the Toronto Blue Jays beat Detroit 3-2 Friday, handing the slumping Tigers their 10th consecutive defeat.

Stroman (1-5) had not won since beating the New York Yankees last Sept. 24 in Toronto’s final home game of the 2017 season, but snapped a career-worst streak of six straight losing decisions.

Making his second start after missing 39 games because of a sore shoulder, Stroman allowed two runs and five hits, lowering his ERA from 6.80 to 6.20. The right-hander struck out four and didn’t issue a walk for the first time in nine starts this season.

The emotional pitcher said he felt like himself again after taking down the Tigers.

”It’s a relief just being able to be myself out there,” Stroman said.

Manager John Gibbons agreed that success had given his pitcher a new spring in his step.

”He looks like the old guy Authentic Terrell Edmunds Jersey ,” Gibbons said. ”He’s got a little strut going, like John Travolta.”

It’s Detroit’s longest losing streak since a 10-game skid from Sept. 13 to 22, 2003.

”The guys are really pushing hard in the dugout but it’s just not happening right now,” manager Ron Gardenhire said.

Detroit slugger Nick Catsellanos said Stroman kept the Tigers off balance both with good stuff, and a funky delivery full of pauses and hesitations.

”He’s a very unorthodox pitcher with the way he delivers,” Castellanos said. ”He kind of dances on the mound a little bit. That can be difficult to get in synch with.”

Seunghwan Oh pitched the eighth and Tyler Clippard gave up an infield single to begin the ninth but retired the next three batters in order for his fifth save in nine chances.

Detroit opened the scoring when JaCoby Jones scored on Dixon Machado’s double play groundout in the third, but the Blue Jays answered with a three-run fourth, with the first six batters reaching safely against Detroit’s Francisco Liriano.

Smoak hit his 10th home run and first since June 3 at Detroit, and Randal Grichuk added a two-out RBI single.

Tigers infielder Jeimer Candelario cut it to 3-2 with a solo homer, his team-leading 12th Reggie White Jersey , to begin the seventh.

Liriano (3-4) allowed three runs in six innings to lose his third straight decision. The left-hander is winless in seven starts since a victory at Baltimore on April 28.

OSUNA UPDATE

Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins said he expects RHP Roberto Osuna to rejoin the team when his 75-game suspension for violating baseball’s joint policy on domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse. It’s the first time the team has publicly endorsed Osuna’s return to the roster since his arrest in early May. Osuna is still facing an assault charge in Toronto. His next court date is July 9.

”Roberto is our closer,” Atkins said. ”We’re running a baseball team and our goal is to win championships. Roberto could potentially be very much a part of that.”

Osuna has no record and a 2.93 ERA with nine saves in 10 chances this season.

MILESTONE K

Stroman fanned Tigers C James McCann in the fifth for his 500th career strikeout. He’s the 21st pitcher in Blue Jays history to reach the mark.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Tigers: LHP Daniel Stumpf (ulnar nerve) allowed one run and two hits in one inning at Triple-A Toledo. It was the first time Stumpf had pitched in back-to-back games since beginning his rehab assignment June 19.

Blue Jays: RHP Aaron Sanchez (right index finger) has not been able to throw since landing on the 10-day disabled list June 22 and is unlikely to be ready to return when eligible Monday, manager John Gibbons said. … Toronto selected utilityman Darnell Sweeney from Triple-A Buffalo to take the roster spot of OF Steve Pearce, who was traded to Boston on Thursday.

UP NEXT

Tigers LHP Matthew Boyd (4-6, 4.15) faces Blue Jays RHP Sam Gaviglio (2-2, 3.98). Boyd is 0-3 with an 8.66 ERA in four career starts at Toronto. Gaviglio is winless in five starts since beating Philadelphia on May 25.

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