Phillies pitchers walk the ballpark as losing skid hits seven games

CHICAGO – Several hours after the organization’s top baseball official expressed confidence that the team would reverse its fortunes, the Phillies went out and lost their seventh straight ballgame Tuesday night.

And it was ugly.

Phillies pitchers walked an obscene 10 batters (and hit two more) in a 7-4 loss to the Chicago Cubs. One of those walks came with the bases loaded, allowing the Cubs to score the first run of the game. Another extended the sixth inning and the Cubs followed with two runs to break a 1-1 tie. And another set the table for a two-run homer as the Cubs pulled away with three runs in the seventh. Just to complete the ugliness, Jose Alvarado wild-pitched in a run in the bottom of the eighth before leaving the game with back spasms.

“It’s tough to win a ballgame when you give up 10 walks and throw 194 pitches,” manager Rob Thomson said.

The loss was the Phillies’ 11^th in the last 13 games, dropping the team to 8-15 on the season. They’ve only gotten 13 innings from their starting pitchers the last three games with a bullpen game (Kyle Backhus will start) on tap Wednesday night. Taijuan Walker is expected to get the bulk of the work in relief.

“We’ve got to get our starters back to some length just to give the bullpen a little bit of rest,” Thomson said. “We haven’t done that, which is kind of our calling card.”

While walks plagued the Phillies in the latest chapter of their early-season horror show, the offense continued to sputter. The Phils had just four hits through eight innings. Even with Bryce Harper’s two-run homer in the top of the eighth, the Phils have scored just 14 runs during their seven-game losing skid. They are hitting .218 as a team, 28^th overall in Major League Baseball. They are 0 for 26 with runners in scoring position the last six games.

Chicago left-hander Shota Imanaga beat the Phillies for the second time in a week. Using mostly fastballs and splitters, Imanaga gave up just three hits and a run over seven innings. He struck out just one, but walked only one.

Phillies pitchers wish they could say the same. The 10 walks were the team’s most in a game since September 2022.

In two starts against the Phillies in the span of a week, Imanaga allowed just six hits and two runs over 13 innings. He registered 32 swings and misses against Phillies hitters. He struck out 11 in six innings last week in Philadelphia.

Phillies starter Jesus Luzardo pitched in and out of trouble over 4 2/3 innings. The left-hander hit a batter and walked a season-high four. He twice was bailed out by his defense as first baseman Harper made a fielding gem in the third and center fielder Brandon Marsh added one in the fourth. Earlier in the game, Luzardo got out of trouble in the first inning on an excellent piece of defense by third baseman Alec Bohm.

“They put up some good at bats,” Luzardo said of the Cubs, who had 12 hits and left 17 men on base, a sign that it could have been worse for the Phillies. “I didn’t have my best stuff. It was kind of a battle for the majority of the outing finding the zone, but a step in the right direction with guys on base and getting out of jams. But it definitely was not my best day with command. I kind of struggled finding the zone at times.”

The walks caught up with Luzardo in the fifth. He issued a leadoff free pass to Ian Happ then gave up a single to Seiya Suzuki. Luzardo then got a ground ball and a strikeout, bringing Dansby Swanson up with two outs and runners on second and third. Right-hander Orion Kerkering replaced Luzardo and walked Swanson to load the bases. The Cubs then sent up left-handed pinch-hitter Moises Ballesteros. Kerkering got ahead, 0-2, but ended up losing Ballesteros to walk in the first run of the game on a close full-count pitch that Thomson wished catcher J.T. Realmuto would have challenged.

The Phillies came back and tied the game on Kyle Schwarber’s eighth homer of the season in the top of the sixth, but the Cubs forged ahead with two runs against Tanner Banks in the bottom of the inning. Banks allowed two singles and prolonged the inning with a two-out walk to Carson Kelly that loaded the bases, setting up Michael Busch for a tie-breaking two-run single.

The Cubs continued their assault with two homers against Tim Mayza in the seventh.

In all, the Phillies’ bullpen gave up six runs as the overall team ERA swelled to 4.99. Only two teams have a worse mark.

But the worst mark of all is this – eight wins, 15 losses.

Ugly.

“I think that we all know where we’re at,” Luzardo said. “We know how important it is to get back on track.”