The Phillies have had their share of poorly pitched ballgames this season. While they have had games in which they’ve given up more runs, there’s a case that this was actually their worst pitched game of the season. The Phillies’ pitching staff gave up 12 hits, walked ten batters, and hit two others for good measure. The pitchers and the strike zone were not in sync all night. There were several instances in which pitchers looked either scared to throw a strike or simply had no idea where the strike zone actually was.
The only reason the game wasn’t more of a blowout was because Cubs left a staggering 17 runners on base. But that ultimately didn’t matter as the Cubs still scored enough runs to hand the Phillies a 7-3 defeat, their seventh loss in a row.
Jesus Luzardo got the start for the Phillies, and had a relatively uneventful first inning, giving up a mere single. In the second, he allowed two hits but stranded them both. Because he apparently likes patterns, in the third, Luzardo put three runners on bases thanks to two walks and a hit batter, but he once again was able to strand them all.
After stranding two more in the fourth, Luzardo put two runners aboard in the fifth. Rob Thomson decided that Luzardo had pressed his luck far enough and called upon Orion Kerkering to record the final out of the inning. Kerkering was notoriously bad with inherited runners in 2025, and that was again a problem on Tuesday night. He walked the first two batters he faced to put the Cubs up 1-0.
The Phillies had done little on offense up to that point, but when Kyle Schwarber hit a solo home run in the sixth to make it 1-1, you might have thought it would be deflating for the Cubs.
Any deflation was countered by the ineffectiveness of Tanner Banks in the bottom of the sixth. Banks gave up three hits and walked two batters, and the Cubs went up 3-1.
Tim Mayza followed Banks, while he threw more strikes than the others, two of those strikes went over the fence courtesy of Nico Hoerner and Seiya Suzuki, and the Cubs established a 6-1 lead.
The Phillies got two runs thanks to a Bryce Harper home run in the eighth, but Jose Alvarado handed one of them right back. Alvarado walked a batter, gave up two hits, threw a wild pitch, and then hit a batter before being pulled with what was reported as a back spasm.
The Phillies showed a little bit of life in the ninth. They got a few runners aboard, and Alec Bohm got one home on a sacrifice fly. They actually had the tying run at the plate in the form of Trea Turner. But anyone familiar with Turner’s game knew how that was going to go. Sure enough, Turner weakly popped up to end the game.
They’ll be back in action Wednesday night when Taijuan Walker will get the ball after an opener. While that doesn’t sound promising, the Phillies pitchers on Tuesday set the bar extremely low. Let’s see if Walker and company can clear it.
