Cubs beat up erratic Aaron Nola as Phillies' losing streak reaches six games

CHICAGO – Six pitches.

Three quick outs.

The night couldn’t have begun any better for Aaron Nola.

Then the second inning happened.

And the Phillies were on their way to another loss, this one by the score of 5-1 to the Chicago Cubs on Monday night at chilly Wrigley Field.

That’s six losses in a row, 10 in the last 12 games, if you’re keeping score at home. The Phillies, with their high expectations and $300 million-plus payroll, are 8-14 for the first time since the 99-loss season of 2015.

“It’s not where you want to be, obviously,” Bryce Harper said. “Not where we thought we were going to be starting the season. But we can’t really think about that. We’ve got to flush things as quickly as possible and get ready for tomorrow. It’s part of the game.”

The Phils are 1-4 in Nola’s five starts, 0-3 in his last three.

“Right now, it feels like when things go wrong, they really go wrong,” the right-hander said. “But we’ve got to keep playing hard and competing.”

Prior to his team’s latest loss, manager Rob Thomson mentioned the need for his pitchers to start having some quick innings.

As if on cue, Nola responded in the first inning. He struck out Nico Hoerner on three pitches, retired Michael Busch on two and Alex Bregman on one.

That was the highlight of the night for Nola. He labored through a 27-pitch second inning and allowed three hits and two walks as the Cubs put four runs on the board, three coming on a 424-foot, three-run homer to center by Dansby Swanson. 

“I was just throwing a lot of balls tonight,” Nola said. “I got behind pretty much every hitter after that (first inning). They were really patient, made me throw a lot of pitches, and when I did throw it over the plate, they didn’t miss it. It was a tough night, not much command and I walked way too many hitters.”

Nola, who has an ERA of 5.06, allowed 10 base runners on six hits and four walks in 4 1/3 innings. A two-out walk to Pete Crow-Armstrong kept the second inning alive for Swanson. With a 3-1 count, Nola threw a 91.5 mph sinker right down the middle and Swanson crushed it to center.

“I was trying to go down and away,” Nola said of the pitch Swanson drove out of the park.

Nola allowed two more hits, a walk and a sacrifice fly in the third as the Cubs went up, 5-0.

That was plenty for Cubs’ right-hander Colin Rea, who pitched 6 2/3 innings of one-run ball to beat the Phillies for the second time in a week. Rea featured a seven-pitch mix, led by a fastball that averaged 93.8 mph and a splitter that he threw 17 percent of the time. He was supported by excellent defense.

“I thought their defense was pretty spectacular,” Harper said. “We hit the ball hard. We just put it in spots where they made good plays. They made like six or seven diving plays. Tip your hat to that defense. They’ve got a great infield. We have to keep having good at-bats and it’ll fall.”

During their six-game losing streak, the Phillies have scored just 10 runs. Delivering with runners in scoring position has been a huge problem. The Phils are 0 for 22 in those situations in the last five games. They were 0 for 7 Monday night. Their only run came on a fourth-inning double by Justin Crawford with a runner on first base.

The Phils had a chance to bruise Rea in the second inning but left the bases loaded when Rafael Marchan struck out. In the eighth inning, the Phils had another chance as Cubs’ lefty Hoby Milner walked two batters. Bryce Stott popped out to end the threat. Thomson could have used righty-hitting Felix Reyes as a pinch-hitter but decided against it because the Cubs would have countered with a right-hander. Reyes would have hit for Crawford if Stott had extended the inning.

“We felt pretty even with the lefty on lefty as opposed to righty-on-righty so we chose to stay with guys already in the game,” Thomson said.

Alec Bohm continued to struggle for the Phillies. He went hitless in three at-bats to slip to .133 before walking in the eighth.

With losses piling up and frustration mounting, Thomson has remained true to his even-keeled ways. No tantrums. No tirades.

“Oh, I’ve been saying a lot,” he admitted. “But I keep that in the clubhouse.”

Jesus Luzardo will look to play the role of stopper Tuesday night.

And the Phillies could sure use someone to stop this thing.

“They’re fighting,” Thomson said. “There’s a lot of hope and a lot of pride in there.”