Fightins begin seven game home stand with four against Harrisburg

The Reading Fightin Phils (47-67) begin their third to last home stand of the season tonight as the Harrisburg Senators (47-66) roll into Baseballtown for a four-game series. This will be the fourth and final time these two teams play each other in 2014. The Fightins are 7-5 against the Senators this season. First pitch in tonight's game from FirstEnergy Stadium is set for 7:05pm.

The Fightins dropped three of five in their last series of the road trip against the New Hampshire Fisher Cats, including the game five rubber match on Sunday afternoon. After exploding for 14 runs on Saturday, the Fightins only managed one run on Sunday. The Senators took three of four from the Akron RubberDucks over the weekend and head into tonight's game as winners of four of the last five games they've played. The last time these two teams played was in June when the Fightins took two of three from the Senators from 6/3 - 6/5.

In tonight's matchup Adam Loewen (1-4, 3.98 ERA) will take the mound for the 12th time in a Fightin Phils jersey this season. Loewen pitched excellent in his last outing in Portland. He only allowed five Sea Dog hits in six scoreless innings with seven strikeouts. Loewen is just 1-3 in his last seven starts, but he has gone at least six innings in those seven games with a 2.55 ERA and 33 strikeouts.

The righty John Simms (2-2, 3.43 ERA) will be making his eighth start of the year for the Senators. Simms, like Loewen, is coming off of an impressive start. He went six innings his last time out against the Richmond Flying Squirrels allowing six hits and one run with six strikeouts. The 22 year old from The Woodlands, Texas was selected by the Washington Nationals in the 11th round of the 2013 First-Year Player Draft out of Rice University.