Coming off of an embarrassing sweep at the hands of the Atlanta Braves this past weekend, the Phillies began a three-game series with the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday. The Phillies lost two straight against the Giants before the Braves series, so the team entered Tuesday night’s contest with a five-game losing streak. The Cubs are a good team to face in hopes of ending a losing streak, as they are having another bad season. Kyle Kendrick pitched for the Phillies this game against Edwin Jackson for the Cubs. Both pitchers have had rough seasons, so this game promised to have a lot of runs given up by the two starters.
Kendrick had a clean first inning, and the offense jumped on Jackson in the bottom of the first. After a leadoff double by Michael Young, Chase Utley drove him in with a single to give the Phils a 1-0 lead. This lead was temporary as the Cubs pounced on Kendrick in the top of the second, scoring four runs. Three of these runs came on a three-run home run by third baseman Donnie Murphy. After this inning, it looked like another typical Kendrick game. But, Kendrick helped himself in the bottom of the second with an RBI single. Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo homered in the top of the third to give the Cubs a 5-2 lead, but this was the last time the Cubs would score for a while.
The Phillies inched closer to the lead in the bottom of the third when fresh-off-the-DL Dominic Brown had an RBI groundout, followed by an RBI double by Darin Ruf. The score was now 5-4 in favor of the Cubs. The Phillies finally tied the game in the bottom of the fifth with an RBI triple by Utley, followed by another RBI groundout by Brown and then a solo home run from Ruf. The lead was now 7-5 in the Phillies’ favor. The home team added two more runs throughout the game to go up 9-5 heading into the top of the ninth.
Phillies closer Jonathan Papelbon came into to pitch the ninth inning, even though it was not a save situation. Papelbon has been booed by fans lately for his comments about the team’s tough season. He also has not pitched well, so there is more than one reason for the fans to boo him. This was an intense inning for Papelbon, as he did not pitch up to his capabilities again. He wound up giving up a two-run single to outfielder Nate Schierholtz. Then, the Cubs got a run on an error committed by Brown. With men on first and third, Papelbon got pinch hitter Thomas Neal to fly out to end the game. It was another nail-biting ninth inning from Papelbon, but he got the job done, ending the Phillies’ losing streak and hopefully starting a winning streak. Kendrick also the received the win, pushing his win total for the season to 10.
The Phillies have two more games against the Cubs and then they will travel to Washington, D.C. to play the Nationals for three. The probables for tomorrow’s 7:05 game are the Cubs’ Travis Wood and Cole Hamels for the Phillies.
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