A night after the Phillies’ hitters had their way with the Cubs’ pitching staff, the Cubs returned the favor on Tuesday. Phillies pitchers couldn’t keep the Cubs off the bases, giving up 15 hits, six walks, and one hit batter. And once those runners got on board, the Phillies didn’t do much to stop them from scoring. The end result was an ugly 10-4 loss.
Early on, it looked like the Phillies might be due for another big offensive night. Edmundo Sosa crushed a home run in the second to stake the team to a 3-0 lead.
The Cubs answered immediately. Aaron Nola got the start for the Phillies, and he had an uneven night. He held the Cubs scoreless in the first two innings, but the Cubs used five hits to score two runs in the top of the third. The damage would have been worse if not for a tremendous throw by right fielder Adolis Garcia to get a runner out at third base.
One team continued to score with regularity, but it wasn’t the Phillies. After Sosa’s home run, they managed only one runner over the next five innings. Meanwhile, the Cubs took advantage of two Nola walks in the fifth, as Alex Bregman tied it up with an RBI single.
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Tim Mayza entered the game in the sixth. He’s been a pleasant surprise thus far this season, but this was a bad night. He walked two batters, hit another, and gave up a single in one-third of an inning as the Cubs took the lead. Brad Keller came in to clean up the mess, but he gave up a two-run single to the heretofore slumping Bregman before getting out of the inning.
The Phillies had a chance to make a game of it in the eighth. Sosa led off with a double and scored on a Trea Turner single. A Kyle Schwarber single and walk to Garcia loaded the bases with two outs. With lefthander Caleb Thielbar in the game for the Cubs, Alec Bohm was sent to pinch hit for Brandon Marsh. Like Bregman, Bohm was slumping heading into this game. Unlike Bregman, that slump didn’t end, as he struck out to end the threat.
Tanner Banks gave up a three-run home run to Carson Kelly in the final inning to remove any sense of drama.
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Now that both teams have traded ugly wins, they’ll have the rubber match on Wednesday. Jesus Luzardo and Shoto Imanaga will try to provide their teams with less ugly pitching than we’ve seen the past two nights.
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