WASHINGTON — Having already won their first series at Nationals Park since April 2016 Justin Layne Jersey , the Philadelphia Phillies will go for the sweep of Washington on Sunday night.

Phillies right-hander Nick Pivetta (4-6, 4.08 ERA) faces Nationals right-hander Jefry Rodriguez (0-0, 4.66).

Pivetta was drafted by the Nationals in 2013 and went to the Phillies in 2015 as part of the Jonathan Papelbon trade.

After struggling for three straight starts — giving up 13 runs in 14 innings — Pivetta allowed two runs and four hits in 7 1/3 innings of a no-decision against the St. Louis Cardinals last time out, striking out a career-high 13 batters.

“That’s some of the best stuff I’ve seen him have all year,” catcher Andrew Knapp told mlb.com. “The curveball was electric.”

Pivetta got 11 swings and misses with the curveball.

“It was nice to have it back,” Pivetta told mlb.com. “It all started with my delivery. I was staying up through it, not trying to rush too much and it worked out.”

It his first start — and second big-league appearance — the 24-year-old Rodriguez picked up a win against the Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday. He allowed five runs, four hits and three walks in five innings.

Rodriguez and Satuday’s losing pitcher, Erick Fedde, are filling in for injured starters Stephen Strasburg and Jeremy Hellickson.

The Phillies have outscored the Nationals 17-5 in the fist two games of the series. On Saturday, Maikel Franco had four hits and Carlos Santana homered to back Aaron Nola in a 5-3 victory.

“That was just a tremendous all-around baseball game http://www.steelersfootballauthentics.com/benny-snell-jr.-jersey-authentic ,” Phillies manager Gabe Kapler said of Franco. “It’s so interesting how we’ve been looking for him to be not just a hitter but a defender and a baserunner and an all-around athlete.”

Franco drove in a run and scored twice, including the go-ahead run when he scored just ahead of the tag on Jesmuel Valentin’s sacrifice fly.

The Phillies, who have won six of seven, pounded out double-digit hits for the second day in a row in Washington.

“They have a lot of patient hitters,” Fedde said of the Phillies. “I think that’s what makes it tough. Guys aren’t swinging at bunch of junk, so you have to attack them.”

The Phillies have now won four straight series for the first time since May 2016 and are 2-0 in what will be a stretch of 10 games against the Nationals and the New York Yankees.

Anthony Rendon homered and Daniel Murphy had a two-run single for Washington, which has lost three of four while scoring nine runs.

“Look, I’ve got all the confidence in the world we’re going to start hitting,” Nationals manager Dave Martinez said. “We’ll start scoring some runs. Right now, the bullpen is a little beat up. We’ve got to get them going again.”

Rendon is doing his part. In his las 15 games, he is batting .382 with seven doubles Zach Gentry Jersey , two homers and 12 RBIs.

Hellickson (right groin strain) will make a rehab start Sunday for Class A Potomac and then is expected to rejoin the Nationals’ rotation.

Hernandez said first baseman Ryan Zimmerman (right oblique strain) is about a week from beginning a rehab assignment.

The Buffalo Bills are in the NFL playoffs. No, we’re not kidding. They needed some last-minute help from Cincinnati, which stunned Baltimore 31-27 after Buffalo had won at Miami 22-16 Sunday. Those results lifted the Bills into the final AFC wild-card spot and a visit to Jacksonville next Sunday. The last time they reached the postseason, the Bills lost in the Music City Miracle game in Nashville in January 2000. Their playoff drought was the longest current string in North American professional sports. But the happiness comes with a caveat: star running back LeSean McCoy was injured and carted off in the second half. He was seen in a walking boot after the game. ”The locker room is electric man. We have been working so hard for this,” Bills guard Richie Incognito said. ”So much has been said about it. And now the monkey is off our back. We’re in the postseason and we’ve got new life.” The Jaguars are coached by Doug Marrone, who resigned as Bills coach exactly three years ago. Baltimore’s late meltdown was stunning. The Ravens needed to stop a fourth-and-12 from their 49, and Andy Dalton found Tyler Boyd with 44 seconds left to pull out the win – and send the Ravens home. Baltimore had trailed most of the game before taking a 27-24 lead with 8:48 remaining. ”Even the game, I think, epitomizes a little bit the way the season went,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said. ”We had to battle our way back the way we did, and then not to be able to finish and win the game is about as tough as it can be.” Tennessee had a win-and-get-in scenario and took advantage by beating the AFC South champion Jags 15-10. That gave the Titans their first playoff berth since 2008. They head to AFC West winner Kansas City on Saturday to open the wild-card round. ”We refused to go home L.J. Collier Jersey ,” Brian Orakpo said. ”I didn’t want to be on a Southwest flight back to Texas tomorrow wondering, `what if.’ ”It’s an unbelievable feeling.” The Falcons will get another chance to reach the Super Bowl, though this time as a wild card. The team that blew a 28-3 lead in the second half of the big game in February defeated Carolina 22-10 to earn a trip to the NFC West champ Rams. Los Angeles sat most of its regulars in losing to San Francisco 34-13. Falcons-Rams is Saturday night. Seattle fell short of reaching the postseason with Atlanta’s win, but lost anyway to Arizona 26-24. ”All you want is an opportunity,” said Falcons defensive tackle Grady Jarrett, who had a sack and three tackles for losses. ”We have one. Now it’s up to us to take advantage of it.” The Panthers already were in, and they will meet NFC South foe and division winner New Orleans on Sunday to finish off the opening round. The Saints swept their two meetings with Carolina this season. New England (13-3), as it almost always seems to do, secured home-field advantage for the AFC playoffs by beating the Jets 26-6. Pittsburgh (13-3) got the No. 2 seed – its controversial loss to the Patriots in Week 15 was the tiebreaker – with its 28-24 victory over Cleveland. They both are off next week. Minnesota (13-3) already had qualified for the postseason, and it grabbed a wild-card round bye with a 23-10 win over Chicago. The other bye in the NFC went to Philadelphia (13-3) last week as the top seed, and the Eagles played plenty of backups in a 6-0 defeat against Dallas. Eight of the 12 playoff teams are newcomers from last year: Buffalo http://www.seahawksfootballauthentics.com/marquise-blair-jersey-authentic , Tennessee, Jacksonville, the Rams, Philadelphia, Carolina, New Orleans and Minnesota. That includes two teams that finished last in their division in 2016 and won it this season: the Eagles and Jags. The divisional round will open in Philadelphia on Saturday, Jan. 13. New England will host a game that night. On Sunday, Jan. 14, Pittsburgh hosts the early game, then the round concludes in Minnesota. —