Phillies swept out of Chicago with ninth straight loss: ‘We’re going to come out of it and be better for it’
The Phillies had the go-ahead run on third base in the eighth, ninth, and 10th innings against the Cubs, but weren’t able to cash in. They head to Atlanta searching for answers.
CHICAGO — On three occasions, the Phillies were 90 feet away from potentially stopping the skid.
They had the go-ahead run on third base in the eighth, ninth, and 10th innings on Thursday against the Cubs, but weren’t able to cash in. And when Chicago’s Dansby Swanson walked them off in the bottom of the 10th, the Phillies’ most persistent offensive effort in over a week ended with nothing to show for it.
The Phillies dropped their ninth straight game, 8-7. The Cubs completed the sweep with their ninth straight win.
“Did we lose? Yeah. Do you feel bad about that? Yeah,” said Phillies manager Rob Thomson. “But they fought, and hopefully it carries over into tomorrow.”
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The Phillies overcame an off day from their ace to tie the game, but never pulled back in front. The Cubs were able to make a lot of contact against Phillies starter Cristopher Sánchez, racking up 12 hits for the most he has allowed since 2024.
Several of those were bloops or infield singles, but Sánchez also gave up two homers: a three-run shot from Michael Busch in the third, and a solo home run from Ian Happ in the fourth inning. In total, Sánchez was charged with six earned runs.
“Overall, bad outing,” Sánchez said through a team interpreter. “I think that my only good pitch today was the changeup. Missed too many spots with the sinker. Overall bad, but tomorrow’s another day.”
Sánchez only completed 5⅓ innings before he was lifted for Chase Shugart. No Phillies starter has finished seven innings yet this season.
Brandon Marsh helped spark the Phillies offense. The outfielder had a two-homer game with a pair of solo shots off Cubs starter Edward Cabrera, and picked up another RBI in the fourth inning with a single that scored Bryce Harper.
Marsh’s second homer of the day ignited a three-run seventh inning. Bryson Stott followed it up with a single, and Alec Bohm hit a double — his first extra-base hit since April 6 — to the right field wall.
The Phillies then had a lucky break with a fielding error from Alex Bregman that allowed Stott to score and Justin Crawford to wind up on second base. A sacrifice fly from Garrett Stubbs scored another run as they cut the Cubs’ lead to 6-5.
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“Communication was better, just the togetherness was better today,” Marsh said. “And it is hard going through a stretch like this, but we got a lot of really, really good guys in this locker room that have been through this before, and we’re going to come out of it and be better for it.”
Thomson stuck with Marsh against lefty reliever Hoby Milner in the eighth, and Marsh rewarded him by working a walk to keep the line moving. Thomson then opted to pinch-hit for Bryson Stott with Edmundo Sosa, and although Cubs manager Craig Counsell countered by bringing in righty Jacob Webb, Sosa punched a single to left field that tied the game at 6.
The Phillies had the opportunity to take the lead, but Crawford struck out swinging to strand the bases loaded.
When Seiya Suzuki jumped on a fastball from former teammate Brad Keller for a solo homer in the eighth, pinch-hitting Adolis García struck right back in the ninth with a home run of his own.
“Obviously it ends in a loss. But there’s a step in the right direction for us,” Schwarber said. “I think that the more games we play like this, the more that we come in with the energy we had, that good things are going to happen.”
The Phillies, who did not draw a single walk in their loss on Wednesday, worked back-to-back walks in the ninth and had the go-ahead run at third base. This time facing lefty Riley Martin, Marsh struck out looking on three pitches to end the rally.
After a scoreless ninth from José Alvarado forced extra innings, a ghost-running Marsh was stranded at third base when the Phillies went down in order in the 10th. Tanner Banks pitched the bottom of the inning. He intentionally walked Suzuki, and Carson Kelly singled to load the bases. Swanson laced a single to right to end it.
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After matching their longest losing streak since September 2018, the Phillies are looking for positivity wherever they can find it.
“That’s the way that we should go about our day, every single day. Where we give up some runs, whatever it was, and we were able to respond,” Schwarber said. “Keep fighting back. And then kept extending it in the extra innings. That’s the way I think that we play baseball. I think that’s a good representation.”
But the road doesn’t get any easier. The Phillies are leaving the hottest team in baseball behind for a meeting with the Braves, who swept them at home less than a week ago.
“No series is easy right now,” Thomson said. “So we got to play well. We got to play hard. We got to make our own breaks. Just stay together.”
In Trea Turner and Justin Crawford, the Phillies have two of baseball's fastest players at the top and bottom of their batting order. It's a baserunning coach's dream. Paco Figueroa sat down with "Phillies Extra" to discuss his philosophy on baserunning and how the Phillies might be able to leverage the elite speed of Turner and Crawford to boost an offense that has struggled to score runs early in the season. Watch here.
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