CHICAGO -- Adolis García smoked a high slider in the ninth towards the left-field bleachers, immediately turning to roar at the Phillies’ bench as the ball landed over the Wrigley Field ivy. His teammates responded in kind, collectively pounding on the dugout railing as he rounded the bases.
García had just come off the bench with a pinch-hit, game-tying solo homer, erasing the second of Philadelphia’s two deficits Thursday. The significance of the moment was not lost on either he or his teammates.
For the first time throughout their series with the Cubs, the Phillies bounced back from yet another trying outing from their rotation. It seemed as if every member of the club felt as though Thursday was the day the longest active losing streak in the Majors was going to be put to bed.
One inning later, those same players found themselves making the same quiet walk back to the clubhouse that they endured the previous eight games.
Despite showing the fire and energy not seen since they arrived in Chicago, the Phillies once again found themselves on the losing end thanks to Dansby Swanson’s walk-off RBI single in the 10th. The 8-7 loss to the Cubs erased Philly’s late rally that, for a moment, truly made it seem as though this skid was coming to an end.
But as dire as the situation has become for a club that has rapidly lost ground in the NL East standings, that the team finally clawed its way back in what seemed like a sure defeat early was the biggest takeaway.
“You’ve gotta take something good out of the game, and that’s what it was,” manager Rob Thomson said. “Did we lose? Yeah. Do you feel bad about that? Yeah. But they fought, and hopefully it carries over into tomorrow.”
Thursday had all the makings of the same kind of defeat Philly has dealt with since Monday’s series opener. For the fourth game in a row, the pitching endured early trouble that had the club playing from behind almost immediately.
This time, it was Cristopher Sánchez, who took the mound boasting a 1.59 ERA. Just 5 1/3 innings later, that number had ballooned by over 100 points. After allowing a career-high-tying 12 hits – nine of which occurred across the second and third innings -- Sánchez departed the game with his team down 6-2.
It was hardly the first four-run deficit Philadelphia faced during this series. More often than not, Chicago has coasted after securing an early lead with little to no opposition from the Phillies’ side.
That changed on Thursday.
Marsh sparked a seventh-inning rally by clubbing his second homer of the day. He was the first of four consecutive Philly baserunners to reach during that frame. Edmundo Sosa came off the bench to tie it one inning later with a pinch-hit RBI single.
Even after Cubs right fielder Seiya Suzuki appeared to land a critical blow with his eighth-inning, go-ahead solo shot, García’s heroics got the Phillies back off the mat again.
“That’s the way we should go about our day every single day,” Kyle Schwarber said. “We give up some runs, we were able to respond, keep fighting back and kept extending it into extra innings. That’s the way I think we play baseball.
“Obviously we don’t end up with a win, but I feel like if we keep playing more baseball like that, we’re gonna get a lot more good results moving forward.”
It was a noticeable shift compared to how the Phillies had played to this point at Wrigley. Quality at-bats have been spoiled by the Cubs’ defensive gems. Lineup tweaks yielded little to no fruit. Starters have routinely put the offense in a hole, and it never seemed as though the club was in a place to overcome it.
Thursday’s loss stung. Nobody on the roster insisted otherwise. Philadelphia was 2 1/2 games out of first at the start of this skid and now sits in a 9 1/2 game hole with a series against first-place Atlanta next on the schedule.
But considering how early the situation turned sour for the Phillies, that the fire never went out even as the losing streak carried on was something many leaned on as a sign their luck could potentially turn soon.
“Today was really good,” Marsh said. “We were loud in the dugout, communication was better. The togetherness was better today.
“Yeah, it’s hard going through a stretch like this. But we’ve got a lot of really good guys in this locker room that have been through this before. We’re going to come out of it and be better for it.”