The Philadelphia Phillies are enjoying their longest road winning stretch of the season, although Aaron Nola likely needs to fare better away from home.

Meanwhile, Drew Smyly must improve his recent work at home for the Chicago Cubs.

Nola will look to help the Phillies record an eighth straight road win on Wednesday night against Smyly and the Cubs.

After Ranger Suarez allowed one run over 7 1/3 innings and Brandon Marsh homered twice during Tuesday’s 5-1 series-opening win at Chicago, Philadelphia recorded its second seven-game road winning streak in as many seasons.

Nola (6-5, 4.38 ERA), meanwhile, went 2-1 during his first four road starts this season, but is 1-2 with a 5.91 ERA in the past five away from home. However, he has completed six innings in eight of nine road starts this season.

The right-hander is coming off one of his better 2023 efforts on Thursday, when he allowed two hits and two walks over six scoreless innings in a no-decision against the Atlanta Braves.

“I think the location, and getting ahead of guys was a key,” Nola told The Trentonian.

“You’ve got to keep trying to pound the zone and making good pitches.”

Nola is 5-2 with a 4.44 ERA in eight career starts against the Cubs. He also stood out against Chicago at home during a 12-3 win on May 20, allowing only a two-run homer to Dansby Swanson and three other hits while striking out 10 through seven innings.

Marsh, meanwhile, is 12-for-20 with five RBIs in his past six games after going 1-for-16 in the previous four.

“(Doing) nothing really different, just stuck to the routine and the process,” Marsh told NBC Sports Philadelphia.

Marsh has never faced Smyly (7-4, 3.38), who hasn’t pitched since June 19 due to the way things have worked out with the Cubs’ schedule involving their recent travel to England.

The left-hander overcame a season-high five walks and three hits over five scoreless innings of an 8-0 win at Pittsburgh in his most recent outing.

“That’s as hard as I’ve seen him work in a while, to be honest,” Chicago manager David Ross said. “But, he continued to pitch.”

Smyly went 2-0 with a 2.42 ERA in his first five home starts of 2023, however he has yielded 10 runs and 16 hits over 10 2/3 innings while splitting his last two at Wrigley Field. Smyly has never faced the Phillies in Chicago but is 1-0 with a 3.54 ERA in five games (four starts) against them.

While Philadelphia’s Alec Bohm is 4-for-7 versus Smyly, teammates Nick Castellanos, Trea Turner and ex-Cub Kyle Schwarber are a combined 14-for-44 (.318) against him.

Cody Bellinger is 4-for-10 in the past three games for Chicago, which has lost two straight after winning nine of its previous 10 games. However, he and teammate Ian Happ are a combined 0-for-18 against Nola since the start of the 2019 season.

–Field Level Media

Houston Astros starting pitcher Cristian Javier suffered an uncharacteristic loss of command during his most recent start.

He walked a career-high five batters and seemed mystified after the June 21 game against the New York Mets.

“I really don’t even know what to tell you what was going on today,” he told reporters after the game. “I was falling behind a lot of hitters and missing with a lot of pitches.”

Javier (7-1, 3.25 ERA) will try to restore order on Wednesday when he faces the Cardinals in St. Louis in the middle contest of a three-game set.

The Cardinals won the opener 4-2 Tuesday while handing the Astros their eighth loss in their last 11 games.

The Astros eventually beat the Mets 10-8 in Javier’s start last week. He allowed four runs on four hits and the five walks while needing 82 pitchers to retire just seven batters.

“I don’t know, he was high, high and more high,” Astros manager Dusty Baker said of the location of Javier’s pitches.

The 2 1/3-inning stint was the shortest start of Javier’s career. He will try to get back on track in his first career start against St. Louis.

The Cardinals have won six of their past eight games while trying to climb out of the National League Central cellar. They rallied from a 2-0 deficit Tuesday while shaking off their jet lag from two games in London.

“No one’s going to care how we feel today,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “Jet lag, it doesn’t matter. We fall behind 2-0, we have to find a way to fight back and that’s all that matters and they were able to do that.

“At the end of the day, you still have to find a way to win. To their credit, they didn’t give in and they continued to fight.”

The Cardinals will start Miles Mikolas (4-5, 4.23), who is coming off a tough-luck 3-0 loss at Washington on June 21. He held the Nationals to two runs on eight hits over seven innings in rainy conditions.

“I thought I commanded the fastball pretty well early,” Mikolas told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “They hit a couple balls pretty hard, but we had our defense positioned pretty well. A few got away from me.

“It was kind of fun, but a little challenging throwing in the rain. Kind of like being a kid in the backyard, playing in the summer. Not a terrible game. Kept us close for most of the game and it’s just a tough game overall.”

In his two starts prior to that loss in Washington, Mikolas allowed 11 runs on 15 hits and three walks over 12 innings. The Cardinals have scored just 10 runs in his past six starts, and he’s 2-4 in that span.

Mikolas is 0-1 with a 10.80 ERA in two career starts against the Astros.

The Astros hope to get second baseman Jose Altuve back in the lineup for this game. He sat out Sunday and Tuesday with a sore heel, an injury he suffered Saturday while running out a single.

–Field Level Media