2 big Phillies rallies and more Luzardo excellence snaps the losing streak originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
CHICAGO — The Phillies hadn’t homered in five days and knew it would be extremely difficult for either team to hit one out of Wrigley Field on Saturday afternoon.
It was 47 degrees at first pitch and the wind was blowing in 15-20 mph from left field, making it even more important for both lineups to focus on passing the baton. The Phillies finally did, rallying for six runs in the fourth inning and three in the sixth of a 10-4 win over the Cubs.
“It might take a bloop hit at some point and then it kind of just explodes,” manager Rob Thomson said Friday evening after the Phillies’ losing streak reached five.
Those words were prescient because it was Max Kepler’s bloop into no-man’s land in shallow left field that scored the Phillies’ first run Saturday and reloaded the bases ahead of an Alec Bohm RBI single, Johan Rojas sacrifice fly, Bryson Stott RBI single and Bryce Harper two-run double.
“I don’t remember what the last week was like but that fourth inning was great,” Kepler said. “Started off, me and J.T. (Realmuto) had some duck-fart knocks and then, yeah, we opened it up. That’s the game of baseball, you don’t really have to square ’em up every time but just try to make something happen to rally around.
“That’s what we’ve been looking for, to rally together. When we try to do the small things, big things happen. That inning started with some not-so-impressive hits but they got the job done and got us where we needed it to be.”
The Phillies have put a ton of runners on base this season and have a Top 3 team OBP but the explosions have been few and far between. A big hit with men on base has eluded them since Sunday. The situational struggles have been exacerbated by them hitting just one home run in a span of 296 plate appearances before Kepler went deep in the seventh.
The fourth inning Saturday was the Phillies’ best of the season. Facing Ben Brown, the former pitching prospect they traded to Chicago for David Robertson in 2022, the Phils had five hits with a runner in scoring position, their most in any inning since last August 15 against the Nationals.
Jesus Luzardo followed with a 1-2-3 bottom half and the 14-13 Phillies won for the first time in a week.
Luzardo has exceeded all expectations through six starts with a 1.73 ERA and 1.07 WHIP. He’s kept the Phillies squarely in each game and been a godsend to a rotation that hasn’t yet had Ranger Suarez or an effective Aaron Nola.
“He’s one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet until he gets on that hill, and then he turns into a different guy,” Thomson said. “He’s been outstanding. Looking at him from across the field, I think I appreciate him more now that I can see him every day and what he does, the stuff that he has, the way he goes about his business.”
Luzardo did not allow a hit until the bottom of the fifth, a strong performance in his first start against the Cubs since their reported decision to back out of an offseason trade for him. The Cubs had concerns about Luzardo’s back and elbow, according to The Athletic, and the Phillies swooped in to do the deal themselves.
“Oh, he’s been dealing,” Kepler said. “You see his name on the sheet for the upcoming game and it gives you a reassuring feeling.”
Luzardo’s only troublesome frame was the fifth when Trea Turner committed a two-out error with nobody on base, which led to two Cubs runs and forced the lefty to throw 19 additional pitches. Turner has had a couple of rough moments in the field in this series. He whiffed on a tag at second base when Realmuto had a base-stealer out by a wide margin on Friday and committed his third error of the year in the middle game.
The shortstop did make up for it, though, with an RBI single up the middle the half-inning after his miscue. Turner crushed the ball over 104 mph in both his third and fourth at-bats, potentially a good sign for a player who’s hitting .245 with just five extra-base hits.
Kepler seems to be finding a rhythm at the plate. He went 3-for-5 with a solo home run to right field, the only location a ball had a chance of leaving the yard on Saturday. The left fielder is 10-for-26 (.385) with two doubles and a homer over his last seven games.
“Starting to see it, starting to believe in what I work on in the cage,” he said. “Just taking my swings, not trying to reach for balls or poke. Just hunting my zones.”
It’s just a 13-game sample but Kepler has done major damage at Wrigley Field, hitting .391 with four homers, three doubles and 10 RBI. He hadn’t even realized.
“I didn’t even know that, usually I’m freezing my ass off and just trying to get a quick game in,” he said. “But it’s a great place to play, it’s like Fenway, it’s magical. It’s an honor to stand in one of these ballparks.”
The Phillies go for the series win on Sunday Night Baseball. It should be about 10 degrees warmer at first pitch but will be another chilly night for Nola to try to find his command.
