Must win?

Going into Sunday's game against the Nationals, the Phillies had won 4 straight series. But the bullpen faltered on Sunday night, costing the Phils a chance at a sweep in Washington. And last night, Yankees fans invaded Citizens Bank Park and the Phils fell to New York, 4-2.

The 4 straight series wins have become a 2-game losing streak. Tonight, prized free agent Jake Arrieta gets the start against righthander Luis Severino, who is 11-2 with a sparkling 2.24 ERA. Severino, the Yankees ace, has struck out 123 in 104.2 innings and walked only 26. He's allowed only 6 home runs.  Carlos Santana is the only Phillie to have faced Severino before, and he's homered twice in 13 at-bats.

Arrieta needs to be just about perfect for the Phillies to halt this mini-skid and boost their confidence. He has lost 3 of his last 4 starts and hasn't won since beating the Dodgers on May 29. They need Arrieta to go deep into the game to take some heat off the recently struggling bullpen. Only 6 Yankees have faced Arrieta before. Neil Walker, Giancarlo Stanton, Didi Gregorius, Brett Gardner, Brandon Drury, and Aaron Hicks are a combined 14 for 77 against Arrieta with a paltry .491 OPS and only 2 home runs.

With a raucous, full ballpark, I expect Arrieta to pitch one of his best games of the season. He's pitched 7 innings or more only 4 times this season. Tonight needs to be a signature, big game start for the former Cy Young Award winner. He needs to be the stopper and stop a losing streak before it really takes hold.

Fun fact: The last Phillies starting pitcher credited with a win over the Yankees was Kyle Kendrick (!), who beat New York 7-1 on June 17, 2010.