The Philadelphia Phillies need more good results on the field when they take on the host Baltimore Orioles in the rubber match of a three-game series Sunday afternoon.

But with the trade deadline looming Monday, there are distractions for both teams.

The Phillies evened the series with Saturday night’s 5-0 victory, holding Baltimore to three hits.

Philadelphia is 2-8 in its last 10 games. It’s too soon to tell what the latest victory might mean for the Phillies, who suddenly seem to be dealing with more attention about retaining their wild-card status than chasing the first-place Atlanta Braves in the National League East.

“This too shall pass,” Phillies interim manager Don Mattingly said of recent struggles.

The Orioles continue to waver when it comes to looking like a playoff contender. They’re 5-6 in their last 11 games and they’ve been shutout victims in two of their last four games.

“Still a lot of season left,” Orioles manager Craig Albernaz said. “We’re still trying to win every game.”

Baltimore was without an extra-base hit against four Philadelphia pitchers Saturday night.

The Orioles’ trade of starting pitcher Dean Kremer to the Minnesota Twins late Friday night shouldn’t impact the pitching for this weekend because the right-hander wasn’t slated to work against the Phillies.

Yet it might take time for the Orioles to absorb Kremer’s departure as team members reflected on the move Saturday.

“Dean’s been a leader here, a staple here for seven years he’s been here,” Albernaz said. “He has made a great impact on our clubhouse with all those players, and also the coaching staff, including myself, in the short time (I’ve) been around him.”

Right-hander Zack Wheeler (10-2, 2.53 ERA) will head to the mound for the Phillies on Sunday. He already has matched last year’s win total, but he’s without a victory in his past two starts. He lasted only three innings and gave up five runs in Monday’s no-decision at Miami.

“You have a bad day every once in a while, I’m sure,” Wheeler said.

Six of Wheeler’s victories have come in road games. In five all-time matchups against Baltimore, he’s 1-1 with a 4.18 ERA covering 28 innings.

Expect the Orioles, who are 2-3 at home since the All-Star break, to have lineup adjustments compared to Saturday, when the batting order was set to face a left-handed starter. That’s why designated hitter Coby Mayo was put in the leadoff position.

Baltimore used newly acquired catcher Jake Rogers in the starting lineup for the first time Saturday. He went 0-for-3 and struck out twice.

Right-hander Kyle Bradish (7-9, 3.74) will have the starting assignment on the mound for the Orioles, going for a victory in a third consecutive decision. He had two strong starts prior to a no-decision Monday when he gave up five runs in 4 2/3 innings at Detroit.

This will mark only the fourth home start in a 10-game stretch for Bradish. He already has issued a career-high 52 walks this season. He’s 0-1 with a 5.40 ERA in two career starts vs. Philadelphia.

–Field Level Media

Rookie right-hander JR Ritchie could get the start on Sunday when the Atlanta Braves go for the four-game sweep over the visiting Washington Nationals.

Atlanta has won four straight and taken the first three games of the series. The Braves are 7-3 this season against the Nationals, who have lost four in a row, and hold an eight-game lead in the National League East.

Ritchie (1-2, 4.50 ERA) is expected to face Washington right-hander Cade Cavalli (8-4, 3.55) in the series finale.

Ritchie was a last-minute scratch from his start at Triple-A Gwinnett when Atlanta’s Reynaldo Lopez complained of left knee inflammation prior to his expected start Saturday for the Braves. That forced Atlanta to slide Sunday starter Martin Perez up a day and led to Ritchie’s recall. Lopez will be placed on the injured list.

“(Ritchie) will be a candidate,” Atlanta manager Walt Weiss said after the game. “We’re just trying to talk through all these things, but there’s a little bit of scrambling here.”

Ritchie has appeared in 13 games (seven starts) for Atlanta. His last appearance came July 21 against San Diego when he threw 3 2/3 innings of relief and allowed three runs in an 8-3 home loss.

“We’ve been dealing with this since the first day of spring training and it hasn’t stopped,” Atlanta manager Walt Weiss said on depth in the starting rotation. “It’s created opportunities for guys. You need to have pleasant surprises, and we’ve had plenty of those.”

They’ve also used plenty of starting pitchers. Thirteen different pitchers have made starts for the Braves.

Cavalli has won five straight decisions and is coming off a six-inning start against Toronto on Tuesday when he allowed three runs (two earned) on six hits and two walks, striking out three. During the five-game winning streak over nine contests, Cavalli has worked to a 3.06 ERA with 54 strikeouts in 47 innings.

He has made one career appearance against the Braves. That came on April 23 when he received no-decision after giving up two runs in five innings with 10 strikeouts. It was one of his three double-digit strikeout efforts this season.

Washington has lost six of its last nine and dropped 3 1/2 games behind the race for the final NL wild-card spot. The Nationals need a win on Sunday to avoid matching a season-worst five-game losing streak.

“The guys are frustrated,” Washington manager Blake Butera said. “This is the first time in a while that we’ve been in a spot where we’re chasing a playoff and these guys want to win. They’re frustrated that we’re losing. There’s nothing they want to do more than win some games right now.”

The Washington offense has been dormant in the series. The Nats scored only two runs on Friday and were blanked for seven innings on Saturday before scoring three times to make the final score a more respectable 8-3. The Nationals failed to homer on Saturday for only the third time in their last 29 games.

“It’s really a tough time to have a tough week,” Butera said. “We’ve played pretty well up until this past week. I believe in all these guys in this clubhouse. They’ve done some pretty incredible things up to this point. It’s up to us to right the ship and get this thing going back in the right direction as quickly as we can.”

–Field Level Media

The Toronto Blue Jays will be going for a sweep Sunday afternoon in the finale of a three-game series with the visiting St. Louis Cardinals.

The Blue Jays clinched the series with a 5-1 victory Saturday afternoon. Right-hander Kevin Gausman earned the win in what could have been his farewell performance for the Blue Jays with the Monday trade deadline looming.

Gausman allowed one run in 5 2/3 innings and left the mound in the sixth to a standing ovation.

“What a cool moment,” Gausman said. “The fans have done a lot of cool moments for me since I’ve been here, but that was definitely up there.”

The Blue Jays have won three straight and are assured of winning their second successive series.

“We’re getting hits when we need them,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said. “I love the way we have played.”

The Blue Jays enter Sunday 3 1/2 games out of the third and final American League wild-card spot.

“We’re still in it,” Blue Jays center fielder Daulton Varsho said. “It’s not like we’re 10 1/2 games back. We’ve got to keep our heads down, keep grinding, keep playing good baseball and see where the year ends up. … on paper, we’re still a really good team, we’ve just got to prove it every night.”

Matthew Liberatore (5-8, 5.26 ERA) is the probable starter for the Cardinals and gives them a chance to salvage a win and stop a three-game losing streak. The left-hander is 0-1 with a 5.63 ERA in two career outings (one start) against the Blue Jays.

Max Scherzer (1-4, 9.49) is slated to make his second start Sunday since coming off the injured list (back spasms, thumb injury). He needed 75 pitches to navigate 2 2/3 innings July 27 — his 42nd birthday — against the host Washington Nationals, allowing one run, four hits and three walks with four strikeouts. The right-hander is 5-7 with a 2.66 ERA in 16 career starts against the Cardinals.

St. Louis enters Sunday four games out of the NL’s third wild-card spot and has four wins in its past 16 games.

The Cardinals have scored three or fewer runs in their past seven games, going 1-6.

“You’re looking early in the year, several guys were really hot, and they did a nice job of just driving the baseball. More slug,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said.

“Right now, that’s just not the case at the top of the lineup. I believe they’ll get back to that, but they’re at a part of the year where that’s just not happening. They’re working hard, and they’re trying to get back to feeling good about their swings. But it’s just part of a long season, especially when you have a young group. There are going to be some inconsistencies there.”

The Cardinals outhit the Blue Jays 11-9 on Saturday but stranded 11 runners in going 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position.

“I know it’s been tough for us lately,” said Cardinals All-Star right fielder Jordan Walker, who is 3-for-9 with an RBI in the first two games in Toronto. “I mean, that’s no secret. They’ve been tough. We haven’t come through, but we’re going to keep our heads up, and we’re going to keep going.”

Cardinals left-hander Quinn Matthews was promoted from Triple-A Memphis to make his major league debut Saturday, and he allowed two runs in five-plus innings.

Right-hander Matt Svanson was optioned to Memphis and right-hander Tink Hence was designated for assignment in the corresponding moves.

–Field Level Media