In the middle of a playoff race Jose Iglesias Jersey , the Philadelphia Phillies want Aaron Nola to pitch as much as possible.That’s why manager Gabe Kapler moved up the Phillies’ ace to start in Sunday’s series finale against the Chicago Cubs. Jon Lester takes the ball for the Cubs, who are trying to win the three-game series. The Phillies are looking for their first series win in four weeks. The Cubs have won nine of their last 11 games.Article continues below ...Nola (15-3, 2.10 ERA), a first time All-Star in 2018, is in the thick of the Cy Young race, outpitching Washington’s Max Scherzer in his last two starts.Nola, whose 2.10 ERA ranks second in the National League behind Jacob deGrom, finished August on one of the best stretches of his season.Nola has a 0.64 ERA in his last four starts, giving up two earned runs and 16 hits in 28 innings. The 25-year-old has 33 strikeouts and seven walks during that span.The Phillies are three games behind the Atlanta Braves in the NL East after their loss Saturday. The team is 19-8 in Nola’s 27 starts in 2018, and Kapler was quick to move him up in the rotation.“Mostly because Nola is awesome,” Kapler said to MLB.com Denny McLain Jersey , explaining the decision. ” … Nola has been tremendous and we wanted him starting sooner than later.”Nola will be on usual rest because of the Phillies’ off day Thursday. It also gives Nola an extra start at Citizens Bank Park, where he is 9-0 with a 1.94 ERA in 13 starts this season.Nola is 1-0 with a 4.61 ERA in two career starts against the Cubs.Lester (14-5, 3.67) has been dominant against the Phillies in his career. He is 7-0 with a 1.64 ERA, 0.978 WHIP and .204 batting average in nine starts against Philadelphia. The 34-year-old has not faced the Phillies this season, but also owns a 1.29 ERA in four starts at Citizens Bank Park.In Lester’s last outing, he gave up three runs, five hits and three walks in six innings against the New York Mets. He also knocked in a two-run single off Noah Syndergaard in a 7-4 victory.The Cubs have won in each of Lester’s last three starts, and he has a 2.04 ERA during that stretch.Chicago saw the return of third baseman Kris Bryant on Saturday. Bryant was playing for the Cubs for the first time since July 23, coming back after missing time with left shoulder inflammation.Bryant, the 2016 MVP, went 2-for-4 with a double in his return http://www.tigersfanproshop.com/authentic-daniel-norris-jersey , and is batting .279 with an .858 OPS this season.“My shoulder is fine,” Bryant told MLB.com before rejoining the Cubs’ lineup. “My shoulder feels good, strong. I’ve taken all the precautions to make sure it does feel good, which is taking a month off and tweaking some things here and there.“I don’t know if he’s going to give me a day off because of the shoulder or because of feeling physically tired, but my shoulder feels good.”Sunday marks the final regular-season meeting. Chicago has taken three of the first five games against Philadelphia. SAN DIEGO (AP) — Christian Villanueva had a hard time walking, yet still managed to get a walk-off hit.Villanueva, who fouled a ball off his foot on Friday night, had a walk-off pinch-hit single in the ninth inning, and the San Diego Padres ended a five-game skid with a 7-6 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Saturday night.“The manager had asked me if I was good to go, and I took a few swings in the batting cage and said I could do it,” Villanueva said through a translator. “It’s a dream come true to be able to hit a walk-off up here at the big league level. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do.”Travis Jankowski led off the ninth with a walk against Andrew Chafin (1-4) and advanced to second on a groundout by Eric Hosmer. Yoshihisa Hirano replaced Chafin and intentionally walked Hunter Renfroe.Villanueva hit for Craig Stammen (6-2) and drove a 2-2 pitch into left field to score Jankowski and give San Diego its first win against Arizona at Petco Park this season. Stammen worked two scoreless innings.“His foot was huge. It was swollen http://www.tigersfanproshop.com/authentic-kirk-gibson-jersey ,” Padres manager Andy Green said. “He probably had no business hitting there, but he said he was good to go.”After the broken-bat single landed in shallow left, Villanueva’s discomfort left him.“I forgot about it — I didn’t even think about the pain after that,” Villanueva said. “It was a matter of battling through it, especially after they put Renfroe on. Then I really wanted to come through.”Paul Goldschmidt had four hits and drove in four runs while tying a Diamondbacks record by reaching base safely in nine straight plate appearances. Goldschmidt also extended his hitting streak to 11 games.“I’ve hit some balls hard,” Goldschmidt said. “I’ve had some good luck. I’ve had some good swings, which is nice, but I’ve had some luck going my way to get me a few hits as well.”The Diamondbacks’ three-game winning streak ended, and their NL West lead over the Colorado Rockies fell to one-half game.Arizona built an early lead thanks to doubles by A.J. Pollack and Eduardo Escobar. Goldschmidt singled to give the Diamondbacks a 2-0 advantage, a familiar position for a team that leads the majors in first-inning runs with 107.San Diego evened the score in the fourth with a three-run inning. Goldschmidt doubled home Escobar in the fifth to build a 5-3 lead.The Padres answered with three more runs in the fifth. Cory Spangenberg’s single gave San Diego its first lead of the series at 6-5.“It’s no secret we have been having a rough time as of late,” Green said. “This was a big win for us.”Goldschmidt struck again in the seventh after another double by Pollack Willie Horton Jersey , singling against Phil Maton to tie the game.“It’s a tough loss to absorb,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said. “We’ve done it before. We can’t reverse time and go back and change the way the outcome of the game turned out. We’ve got to find a way to get this job done tomorrow, and that’s what we’ll focus on.”Both starters struggled. Arizona’s Zack Godley allowed six runs on eight hits in five innings. Clayton Richard went five for the Padres, allowing five runs on nine hits.UP NEXTDiamondbacks: RHP Zack Grienke (12-8, 3.00 ERA) looks to continue his dominance of the Padres in the finale of the four-game series. Grienke is 11-2 with a 2.10 ERA in his career against San Diego.Padres: RHP Brett Kennedy (0-2, 11.00) will make his third career start. In his previous outing, he allowed five runs in five innings against the Los Angeles Angels.