CHICAGO – If there was ever a time where it seemed like the Phillies’ bad luck would finally turn, Tuesday night at Wrigley Field was it.
Struggling left-hander Jesús Luzardo dealt with control issues throughout Philadelphia’s bout with the Cubs, but he still held them to just one earned run through a grueling 4 2/3-inning effort. Despite routinely finding himself stuck in jams, Luzardo was bailed out left and right by the Phillies snuffing Chicago’s rally attempts with highlight-reel defense. Kyle Schwarber even provided a spark with a sixth-inning solo blast to erase a one-run deficit.
The table was set for Philadelphia to finally bring its six-game losing skid to a halt. But on a night where the pitching staff continually played with fire, the Phillies eventually got burned while hopes of ending their funk went up in flames in a 7-4 loss.
With the score knotted at 1 in the bottom of the sixth, reliever Tanner Banks followed the theme of the night for Phillies pitching, allowing two walks and three hits. That included Michael Busch’s go-ahead two-run single that gave Chicago an edge it never gave up. The loss pushed Philadelphia to its seventh straight defeat, the club’s longest losing streak since June 16-23, 2019.
“It’s very frustrating,” Luzardo said. “As a whole, we don't feel like we're doing the job that we need to do. ... I think there's been times that a lot of us think that we can pick up the slack, me included.
“I think that we're getting there, we're taking a step in the right direction. Obviously it needs to happen sooner rather than later with the skid that we're going on, but we just have to keep battling, keep grinding.”
Command issues seemed to plague every Phillies pitcher who took the mound Tuesday, with the staff allowing 10 walks and 12 hits on the night. Luzardo, who entered the game with a 7.94 ERA due in part to the bad luck that comes with a .417 batting average allowed on balls in play, began running into trouble in the third. After getting the first out, he walked the next two batters before hitting Seiya Suzuki with a pitch.
Yet, as was the case early on, multiple Cubs scoring chances were stifled by Philadelphia's defense.
Bryce Harper made a sliding catch in foul territory that helped Luzardo navigate out of his third-inning troubles. With two outs and men at the corners in the fourth, Brandon Marsh snagged Alex Bregman’s liner on a leaping grab into the brick center-field wall.
Over and over, it seemed as though the Phillies were going to avoid paying the price for handing out so many free passes. The rate at which Philadelphia was stranding Chicago runners, and the great lengths the team sometimes went to do so, certainly gave the indication the club could be nearing the conclusion of its losing streak.
But come the sixth inning, Banks gave the Cubs one opportunity too many. And after lefty Tim Mayza allowed seventh-inning homers to Nico Hoerner and Suzuki, Philadelphia once again found itself in a hole too deep to dig out of.
“It’s tough to win a ballgame when you give up 10 walks and throw 194 pitches,” manager Rob Thomson said. “It's tough on your bullpen, and we’ve got to get our starters back to some length just to give the bullpen a little bit of rest. We haven't done that, which is kind of our calling card.”
As difficult as this stretch has been for the Phillies, Tuesday night’s defensive highlights -- along with the late rally attempt sparked by Bryce Harper’s two-run shot in the eighth -- illustrated that their shortcomings aren’t due to a lack of effort.
Meanwhile, hope for the pitching staff is on the horizon in the form of Zack Wheeler’s impending return. Faith in the club remains within Philadelphia’s front office, as president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski stressed the importance of not overreacting to April troubles before Tuesday’s game.
For the Phillies, ending this skid just comes down to maintaining the clubhouse's unwavering belief that it can be done.
“This isn't the start that we wanted by any means,” Schwarber said. “The want, desire, the effort, everything's there. It's just not coming together as you go out there and keep playing.
“The more that you think about it not coming together, the more that it probably won't come together. If you kind of trick the brain, saying that it is going to come together, you believe it that it's going to come together.”