The Philadelphia Phillies return to Citizens Bank Park for their penultimate homestand of 2018 in desperate need of some wins as they try to stay in the National League East race.The second-place Phillies will play the three teams behind them in the division during the nine-game homestand Domingo Santana Jersey , starting Monday night against the Washington Nationals. Jake Arrieta (10-9, 3.61 ERA) will get the start against Washington right-hander Erick Fedde (1-3, 6.00) in the opener of the final series between the teams in 2018.The Phillies have not won a series since sweeping the Marlins in early August. Philadelphia is 11-20 since then and, at 74-68, as close as it has been to .500 since it was 43-37 on June 29. Philadelphia’s latest loss, a 6-4 defeat against the New York Mets on Sunday afternoon at Citi Field, pushed it 4 1/2 games behind the Atlanta Braves for the division’s top spot.Article continues below ...Despite a month without a series victory, the Phillies still have a chance to catch the Braves, who they play seven times in the final two weeks of the season. The Phillies are 43-26 at home but just 28-32 against the rest of the NL East this season. They have an 8-8 mark against the Nationals.“We need to turn the page quickly,” Phillies manager Gabe Kapler told reporters after Sunday’s loss in New York. “Looking forward to getting back to Philadelphia where we’ve played really good baseball all year long. We will come out (Monday) having turned the page. We’re prepared to do that.”The Nationals (71-72) enter the series with a two-game winning streak, beating the Chicago Cubs twice before their Sunday game was rained out. There are eight games separating the Nationals and the Braves. Fedde will make his eighth start of the season and his second since rejoining the Nationals after a shoulder injury sidelined him for two months. He gave up four runs (all in the second inning) and four hits and had seven strikeouts in five innings against the St. Louis Cardinals last Tuesday.“I think just that second inning got away from me a little bit,” Fedde told MLB.com after the game. “I started getting a little slider happy with some of the guys that came up, and I think I just let it take over.”Fedde Eric Sogard Jersey , 25, is 1-1 with a 6.55 ERA in two career starts against the Phillies.Rhys Hoskins will try to keep his home run streak going against Fedde and the Nationals. Hoskins homered for the third consecutive game in Sunday’s loss. The Phillies’ 25-year-old slugger has 30 homers this season, and he has homered in three straight games on three separate occasions in 2018.Arrieta was strong in his last outing, notching 11 strikeouts in 7 1/3 innings against the Miami Marlins. The veteran right-hander has allowed two homers in each of his last three starts, including in a three-inning performance against the Nationals on Aug. 29.Arrieta is 1-2 with a 5.25 ERA and a 1.567 WHIP in 12 career starts against Washington. ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — The Tampa Bay Rays found success with a new pitching formula.Ryan Yarbrough got his rookie-leading 16th win and the Rays turned another bullpen game into their 90th victory, beating the Toronto Blue Jays 9-4 on Sunday.The Rays (90-72) went to the unconventional plan of using relievers to open games in addition to traditional starters in mid-May because of injuries.The results were about equal, as Tampa Bay went 46-38 with regular starters and 44-34 when utilizing the bullpen, and the trend began to take hold around the majors. But no team did it as often as the Rays.“I don’t think you can really argue with the results we’ve had with it, and not just with me but with other guys too,” Yarbrough said. “For it to work that well was a big blessing, and you never know, if it didn’t work that well Keon Broxton Jersey , we’d never know where we could be right now.”Ryne Stanek was Tampa Bay’s “opener” for the 29th time and went two scoreless innings. Yarbrough (16-6) followed and gave up two runs and four hits over three innings to get his 14th relief win.Austin Pruitt went the final 3 1/3 innings to pick up his fourth save. He’s gone three or more innings in four of his five career saves.The Rays went 87-60 after losing 12 of their first 15 games.“Hopefully the groundwork has been laid,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “The core group that has gotten some opportunities, played at a really high level, learned how to win together.”Outgoing Blue Jays manager John Gibbons decided to have some fun in the finale and let 35-year-old catcher Russell Martin manage the game.Martin said he “thought about it for a couple seconds” before deciding to keep himself on the bench, declining the opportunity to serve as a player-manager.“It was fun,” Martin said. “Didn’t realize how much went into it. A cool experience. It’s tougher than it looks.”Toronto announced Wednesday that Gibbons will not be back as manager next season.“He’s one of my favorites,” Martin said. “I’m going to miss him. He’s a special guy. He’s kind of like having a second dad.”Over two stints totaling 11 seasons, Gibbons went 793-789 with the Blue Jays.Toronto finished 73-89, a three-game drop from 2017.Tampa Bay improved 10 games from last year and joined the 2012 Rays (90) and 2013 Texas Rangers (91) as the only 90-win teams since the second wild card was introduced in 2012 to miss the postseason.Joey Wendle and Jake Bauers both had two RBIs for the Rays, who went 13-6 against Toronto. Tampa Bay has dominated the series at home, going 111-74.Sam Gaviglio (3-10) allowed five runs and six hits in 5 2/3 innings.SEATS AVAILABLEDespite the strong on-field showing, the Rays’ announced home attendance of 1,154 http://www.brewersfanpro...entic-zach-davies-jersey ,973 was their lowest since 2005 (1,141,699). Tampa Bay drew 1,253,619 last season. Sunday’s crowd was 13,313. Only Miami (811,104) drew fewer fans.STAYING THE COURSEThe Rays are happy with the progress of two-way player Brendan McKay at Single-A Charlotte this season and plan to continue the experiment. “Where this ends up going I think we don’t know exactly still, but we’re really encouraged,” Tampa Bay senior vice president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom said.Bloom said McKay, whose season ended prematurely because of an oblique injury, has been working in the instructional league and has gotten back “to where he’s a healthy player.”RAYS’ HOT STREAKSTommy Pham walked in the third to extend his on-base streak to 32 games, the longest active streak in the majors. Johnny Damon holds the team record with 39. … Wendle set a club rookie record by hitting .300. … Mallex Smith stole 40 bases.UP NEXTBlue Jays: Open the 2019 season at home against Detroit on March 28.Rays: Host AL West champion Houston on opening day of 2019.