Brown's struggles continue as Phillies rout Cubs

Dustin Riese - Senior Writer - 9 hours ago

CHICAGO - Every offseason, there are cases when a team can look at a particular player as the one that got away. For the Chicago Cubs (17-11), Philadelphia Phillies (14-13) left hander Jesus Luzardo could be that guy. After flirting around the idea of trading for Luzardo this offseason, the Cubs wound up being spooked by his injury history as they felt some concerns about his overall medical status.

The Phillies, on the other hand, didn't, and not only did they make the perfect play to trade for him, but he has been one of the best acquisitions up to this point, as he is sporting a 3-0 record with a 1.73 ERA thus far. Even if he wasn't at his best in this one, walking three and striking out five in six innings, the Phillies' offense bailed him out as they scored six times in the fourth to open up a massive lead before picking up a 10-4 victory.

Ben Brown was once again the victim of a rough outing, and Craig Counsell is starting to put him on notice. Despite striking out five in 3 2/3, Brown was charged with six earned runs as his ERA has risen to 6.04 for the season. When asked about his performance after the game, Counsell stated that they need more from Brown, and it makes you wonder how much longer the Cubs will stick with him.

As bad as things were for Brown, it wasn't all that bad early, as he managed to keep the Phillies off the board through three innings despite allowing a baserunner in each inning. The same can be said about Luzardo, who allowed just two baserunners in the first three innings, both coming on walks to Ian Happ.

Knotted at zero entering the fourth, it was time for the Phillies to finally cash in as they began to rattle Brown in a big way. It all started with a leadoff hit by pitch to Kyle Schwarber while a pair of singles from Nicholas Castellanos and JT Realmuto loaded the bases with no outs. Philadelphia continued to single the Cubs to death as a pair of RBI singles from Max Kepler and Alec Bohm put the Phillies on top 2-0, with a sacrifice fly making this a 3-0 game.

Following another RBI single from Bryson Stott to extend the lead to 4-0, it was Bryce Harper closing out a six-run inning as his RBI double brought home a pair and chased Brown with the Phillies on top 6-0. Drew Pomeranz closed out the fourth without further damage while also going out and tossing a scoreless fifth.

In desperate need of some offense, the Cubs benefited from shaky defense as a two-out error allowed Miguel Amaya to reach base in the fifth to extend the inning. That was followed by a Jon Berti single and another Happ walk as the Cubs had the bases loaded with two down. One hit away from making things interesting, it was Seiya Suzuki delivering as his RBI single brought home a pair and had the Cubs within 6-2.

That was as close as the Cubs would get as the Phillies' offense went back to work against Ethan Roberts in the sixth and wound up pushing three more runs across. The first of those runs came on the Trea Turner single with a two-RBI double from Schwarber, pushing the lead to 9-2. Philadelphia would tack on a Kepler homer against Roberts in the top half of the seventh, as it was all Philadelphia at this point, 10-2.

If there is one thing to take away from the early part of this season, it would be that this Cubs team has a ton of fight and they will not quit until the end. Seeing Amaya lead off the bottom of the seventh with a walk was evident as he advanced to second on the Berti single. Two batters later, Suzuki came through again as he connected for his second RBI hit in as many at-bats and made this a 10-3 game.

Following a Kyle Tucker walk to load the bases, the stage was set for Justin Turner to come through with a big hit, as he could make people forget about his poor start to the season. Although Turner was unable to come through with a hit, he did drive in the game's final run with a sacrifice fly as the Cubs pulled within 10-4.

Chicago had a chance to draw even closer in the later innings as they stranded three base runners over the final two innings to fall to the Phillies 10-4. Chicago had eight hits in the game, as Berti led the way with three. Suzuki added two hits with three RBIs as they were the hot hands in the loss. Chicago will look to close out their homestand with a 6-2 mark as they send Jameson Taillon to the mound against Aaron Nola on Sunday night.