Cody Bellinger drove in four runs and Seiya Suzuki knocked in a pair as the Chicago Cubs cruised to a 10-4 road victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Tuesday.
Nico Hoerner and Bellinger each collected three hits for Chicago (81-77), while Dansby Swanson, Pete Crow-Armstrong, Miguel Amaya and Suzuki chipped in with two hits apiece. The Cubs out-hit the Phillies 15-7.
Cubs starter Justin Steele allowed two runs in four innings for the visitors, raising his ERA from 3.03 to 3.07. Drew Smyly (4-8) logged a scoreless fifth inning to pick up the victory. He allowed one hit and one walk with one strikeout.
One night after they clinched the National League East with a 6-2 win over the Cubs, the Phillies (93-65) watched their first three pitchers struggle as they lost ground on the Los Angeles Dodgers (93-63) in the race for the NL’s best record. Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber homered in a losing effort.
Chicago loaded the bases against opener Tanner Banks (2-3) in the second inning before Philadelphia summoned Taijuan Walker out of the bullpen.
Walker promptly walked in a pair of runs before allowing four more runs in the inning. Swanson’s run-scoring groundout made it 3-1 before Suzuki’s two-run single and Bellinger’s RBI hit pushed the lead to 6-1.
Walker and Kolby Allard combined to get through the third, fourth and fifth innings, but Allard gave up four runs in the sixth.
Amaya opened the frame with a single and moved to third on Swanson’s one-out double before Suzuki walked to load the bases. Bellinger plated all three runs with a high-chopper that went into the right field corner, and he came around to score on Isaac Paredes’ grounder as the lead ballooned to 10-2.
Schwarber’s two-run homer in the eighth — his 38th of the season — completed the scoring.
Philadelphia’s only other runs came in the first inning on Harper’s 30th home run, and Garrett Stubbs’ run-scoring bunt in the second.
Banks allowed three hits and three runs with one strikeout in 1 1/3 innings in taking the loss, his first with the Phillies since a July 30 trade from the Chicago White Sox. Walker got a no-decision but yielded four hits, three runs and three walks with one strikeout in 1 2/3 innings.
Chicago’s Michael Busch exited in the second inning with right triceps contusion after being hit by a Banks pitch in the top of the frame.
–Field Level Media