The Phillies are coming into this game with a 62-34 record this season and they are currently the only team in the league that has over 60 wins. They swept the Dodgers at home last week, but they went into the break off of a series loss at home against the A's and they are going to be hungry to bounce back coming out of the break. They are going up against a Pirates team that has been playing very well recently as they have won their last 4 straight as well as 6 of their last 7 games, but they are still just 48-48 this season. The All Star break is not going to help them either as they have cooled off now and lost all of that momentum they had going in. Martín Pérez is starting for the Pirates in this game and he is 1-5 with a 5.15 ERA this season. He has not been pitching well all season and especially in his recent starts. He allowed 5 earned runs in his last start as well as allowing at least 5 earned runs in 2 of his last 3 starts, and the Phillies have one of the better offenses in the league that was still scoring a lot of runs prior to the break. Aaron Nola is starting for the Phillies in this game and he is 11-4 with a 3.38 ERA this season. He has been great all season and is coming off of a start which he only allowed 1 earned run in. He has also been pitching much deeper into games than Perez has been and that could be a problem for this Pirates bullpen. The Phillies have been sitting on that bad series at home against one of the worst teams in the league all week so they will be pushing to start strong out of the break. The Phillies will win this game.