Mother Nature’s rainstorm delayed the Phillies’ afternoon day game in Chicago, Illinois, for nearly two hours before the ballplayers could cross the manicured lines of Wrigley Field to begin their three-game series. The aptly named “Windy City” featured its classic elements, including wind gusts of 15-20 miles per hour during the game. When all 54 outs were recorded, the Cubs celebrated a 4-0 win as the Phillies finished 0–for-7 with runners in scoring position (RISP).
Phillies vs Cubs recap
“You know, we’re kind of in a little bit of a rut here,” head coach Rob Thompson said postgame. “Runners in scoring position, I know, we talk about it all the time. One of these days, we’re going to come through. Really, the threat was in the seventh inning when we got the first two guys on. (In) the other innings, I don’t think we got the runner into scoring position until there were two outs. We had one shot at it. You have first and second and nobody out, you feel like that’s the time you need to score.”
The Phillies opened the game with one of those RISP opportunities in the first inning. Bryson Stott walked from the lead-off spot before Kyle Schwarber’s base-on-balls put Stott into scoring position at second base. Nick Castellanos hit a ground ball to Cubs infielder Jon Berti, who recorded the final out of the inning at the third-base bag in front of a hustling Stott. With his first-inning walk, Schwarber established a new career-high with a 32-game on-base streak, which dates back to last season.
Phillies starter Taijuan Walker also faced a scoring threat in his first inning and survived without allowing any runs. Chicago’s Ian Happ led off the game with a double, which was followed by a Kyle Tucker single to put Walker under pressure immediately. Tucker was initially called out stealing an open second base bag, but the play was challenged and overturned. Michael Busch walked to load the bases before Dansby Swanson and Nico Hoerner lined out to Max Kepler, standing out in left field, to end the threat.
Chicago started the second inning quickly as well, but this time they drove a run across the plate. Pete Crow-Armstrong singled to right to open the inning and scored on Jon Berti’s double down the left field line for a 1-0 Cubs lead. Walker struck out the next two batters to end the inning.
Rinse and repeat for the Cubs in the third inning as Seiya Suzuki doubled down the left field line to open the inning against Walker. Busch walked to put a Cubs in scoring position. Walker showcased his athleticism by fielding Swanson’s bunt to retire Suzuki at third base. The next batter, Hoerner, smashed a line drive to left that scored Busch for a 2-0 Chicago lead.
The Phillies attempted to rally in the top of the fourth but fell short with runners at second and third. Kepler singled to right field before J.T. Realmuto’s double to left field presented a prime-time scoring change for Philly, but Alec Bohm lined out to Ian Happ in left to end the inning.
Thompson turned to Tanner Banks in the bullpen to start the bottom half of the fourth inning, but the results were the same as Walker’s. Berti led off the inning with a single before Happ’s double to left extended the Cubs’ advantage to 3-0.
If you thought this run of first hitters to reach base for Chicago ended there, you’d be wrong. Jose Ruiz replaced Banks and surrendered a leadoff walk to Swanson to start the bottom of the fifth. Despite Swanson stealing second base, Ruiz escaped the fifth without additional crooked numbers to the legendary Wrigley Field scoreboard. The 30-year-old reliever mercifully ended the shenanigans by retiring the first hitter he faced in the sixth inning with a strikeout as a two-inning, one-hit performance for the 6-foot-1 Venezuelan.
One of the Phillies’ best chances to score came in the seventh inning, but obviously, they came up empty in the 4-0 shutout loss. Realmuto reached base on an infield single, which was followed by Bohm’s walk to pressure Cubs reliever Caleb Thielbar. Thompson pinch-hit Cal Stevenson for Johan Rojas, but the 28-year-old walked back to the dugout following a strikeout for the first out of the frame. Stott popped out to Swanson for the second out. The 31-year-old Cubs infielder ended the inning with a highlight-reel worthy fielding play as he stopped a sharp groundball up the middle before barely beating tossing the ball and barely beating Stott at second base for the force out.
Carlos Hernandez replaced Ruiz for the seventh inning and allowed a lead-off double to Swanson, who scored on a Crow-Armstrong sacrifice bunt that was charged as a fielding error to Hernandez to finish off the scoring in the 4-0 result.
Mandatory Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images
