Game 1 – Phillies lose: 6-2
The Phillies got a taste of the best team in the bigs on Friday afternoon. The Cubbies wasted no time, scoring in the bottom first on an RBI single to left from Jorge Soler. The Phils were able to counter in the top of the third with a sacrifice fly from Maikel Franco after capitalizing on two Cubs errors in the inning.
Adam Morgan was overmatched against this powerful Cubs lineup. In the bottom of the 4th, Soler deposited a 1-2 hanging spinner off of the scoreboard in left center field. Davi
d Ross broke the game open, hitting a hanging changeup for a 3-run HR out of Wrigley field for a 5-1 lead. Kris Bryant chased Morgan from the game after another bomb to left field making the score 6-1 in the 5th (on a 1-2 count). The combination of Morgan not locating his off-speed pitches and not putting hitters away ahead in the count contributed to his shelling.
The Phillies were able to get baserunners on Cubs starter Jon Lester but were unable to push across anymore runs after the first one. Maikel Franco knocked in his second run in the top of the 7th on an infield single to close out the scoring. The Phillies left nine men on base on Friday.
Game 2 – Phillies lose: 4-1
Jerad Eickhoff got the ball looking up to even up this 3-game series against the Cubs, but things went south for Eickhoff early. Dexter Fowler led off the game with what looked like to be a routine fly ball to left center. David Lough and Odubel Herrera kept drifting…and drifting…and drifting…until they had no more room. The ball just cleared the ivy for a 1-0 Cubs lead. Jason Hayward followed with a bloop double down the right field line and Ben Zobrist served an outside pitch down the left field line to score Hayward. Hayward came up again in the bottom of the second and recorded an RBI double on a misplay by David Lough. He broke in first on the line drive and couldn’t recover. However, he made a good relay throw to Galvis and gunned down pitcher Kyle Hendricks at home. Cubs led 3-0 after 2.
Eickhoff settled down and didn’t allow a hit in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th innings but ran into some trouble in the 6th when he allowed another run. Eickhoff’s final line: 6IP, 8H, 4ER, 1BB, 7Ks. Still, he wasn’t as bad as his numbers appear. Fowler’s HR was helped by the wind and Hayward hit a jam shot which led to the bloop double and his second double was misplayed by Lough. Zobrist’s double was a pretty good fastball that was off the plate and he went with the pitch. Sometimes you have to tip your cap to the hitters.
Notice the offense wasn’t mentioned yet? That’s because, again, there was barely any offense. Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks looked like Cy Young against the Phillies. Hendricks wasn’t under any pressure at all as he went the distance. Cesar Hernandez was the first Phillie to reach scoring position after a double in the 7th, but was stranded. The Phillies got their only run in the 9th inning when Freddy Galvis “doubled” on a pop-up that dropped between Zobrist and Hayward due to a miscommunication. Galvis advanced to third later in the inning and scored on a dropped third strike after the throw to first base. That was it for Saturday.
Game 3 – Phillies lose: 7-2
Vince Velasquez was on the hill as the stopper for the slumping Phillies hoping to grab two wins from the six game road trip. The start of today’s game was no different than the first two with a Cubs’ first inning run. Anthony Rizzo’s single to left was third of the inning and resulted in an RBI. The second frame followed with a solo HR from catcher from Miguel Montero, making the score 2-0. Velasquez retired the first two hitters quickly in the bottom of the third inning but a Kris Bryant infield single and a walk to to Rizzo extended the inning. Ben Zobrist came to bat and made Velasquez pay by going deep to right field, extending the Cubs lead to 5-0. Kris Bryant roped an RBI single to center in the 5th and was knocked in by a Montego single to make it a 7-0 ballgame, ending Velasquez’s day.
The Phillies offense was once again nonexistent against John Lackey. Lackey went 7 innings and surrendered just 4 hits. Like Kyle Hendricks on Saturday, Lackey was not tested much. The Phils threatened in the 4th inning with runners on 1st and 3rd with one out and Tommy Joseph up. Lackey was able to get out of the inning by inducing a 4-3 double play and then stranded two more runners in the 5th inning. Those were the only jams Lackey faced during his 7 innings of work. A pair of solo HRs from Tyler Goeddel and Tommy Joseph provided the only runs for the Phils. The Phillies offense was not competitive for most of the series.
The Phillies were swept out of Wrigley Field for the first time since 1995. They come home for a 10-game home stand looking to turn things around against the first place Washington Nationals starting Monday night at 7:05.
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