What began as an opportunity to regain footing in the standings turned into a difficult four-game stretch for the Phillies at Wrigley Field. Chicago controlled the series from the outset, handing Philadelphia four straight losses and extending a skid that continues to test the club early in the season.
The tone for the series was set early on Monday night, when Aaron Nola, who had looked fairly decent through his first couple of starts in 2026, showed some remnants of last season as the Cubs got to him early and often. Chicago tagged Nola for six hits and five runs over 4.1 innings, and he walked four. He started the game strong, retiring the first three hitters on just six pitches, but that was about all the momentum he had, as it was mostly downhill from there. The Phillies would go on to fall 5-1. The team is now 1-4 in Nola’s five starts this season, including 0-3 in his last three outings. His ERA has climbed to 5.06.
While Nola was seemingly unimpressive, he received little support from his offense as well, as the Phillies’ bats were silenced again, this time by Chicago starter Colin Rea. Rea went 6.2 innings and allowed just one run. On the night, Philadelphia managed only six hits, another lackluster performance at the plate.
After Monday’s outing, the Cubs had won six in a row, while the Phillies have now dropped six straight and seven of their last eight, two teams seemingly moving in entirely different directions.
“It’s not where you want to be, obviously,” said Bryce Harper. “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.”
On Tuesday, Jesús Luzardo took the mound, but the Cubs stayed hot while the Phillies’ skid continued with a 7–4 loss. To his credit, Luzardo wasn’t terrible, allowing just one run on five hits over 4.2 innings of work, but command and control issues continue to hamper the left-hander. He issued four walks on the night.
Luzardo was not alone in his struggles to find the strike zone, as the Phillies staff handed out an astonishing 10 walks in total on the evening to go along with 12 hits allowed.
“It’s tough to win a ballgame when you give up 10 walks and throw 194 pitches,” said manager Rob Thomson said. “It’s tough on your bullpen, and we’ve got to get our starters back to some length just to give the bullpen a little bit of rest. We haven’t done that, which is kind of our calling card.”
The offense managed to scrape together four runs on six hits, thanks in large part to home runs from Harper and Kyle Schwarber.
With Tuesday’s loss, the Phillies dropped their seventh consecutive game for the first time since June 2019.
On Wednesday, the start went to Kyle Backhus, making his first start in the majors. Backhus had primarily been used in relief, making seven appearances this season while allowing four earned runs over 6.2 innings.
Backhus lasted just one inning, giving up two hits and one run before turning the ball over to Taijuan Walker. The result felt all too familiar, the same outcome, just a different day.
Walker worked four innings, allowing eight hits and four earned runs, including two home runs. He has now surrendered eight home runs over his last four appearances, and his ERA has climbed to 9.13.
“I just didn’t do my job again,” Walker said after the game.
Chicago collected 13 hits to go along with seven runs, securing a commanding 7–2 victory.
On a brighter note, Philadelphia did manage to tally nine hits, but their minus-50 run differential remains the worst in Major League Baseball.
After Wednesday’s game, the team sat at 8–16, tied for last place in the National League alongside the New York Mets.
On Thursday, it took extra innings to decide a winner, and to the dismay of Phillies fans, it was not Philadelphia that emerged victorious. The normally reliable Cristopher Sánchez was hit hard, surrendering 12 hits, six earned runs, and a pair of home runs over 5.1 innings. It marked an unusually rough outing for last season’s Cy Young runner-up.
The game appeared out of reach for much of the afternoon as Chicago held a 6–2 lead after six innings, but to their credit, the Phillies found some life at the plate and slowly worked their way back.
Brandon Marsh sparked the rally with a home run in the seventh, his second of the game, cutting the deficit to three. Philadelphia then pushed two more runs across later in the inning to trim the margin to just one.
Pinch-hitter Edmundo Sosa delivered in the eighth with a game-tying single, and just like that, the Phillies were right back in it.
Seiya Suzuki gave Chicago a 7–6 lead with a home run in the bottom of the eighth, but the Phillies refused to go quietly. Adolis García answered with a solo shot in the ninth to knot the game at 7–7 and keep the fight alive.
In the bottom of the 10th, with Tanner Banks on the mound for Philadelphia, veteran All-Star Dansby Swanson delivered a one-out single to right-center on a four-seam fastball, his first walk-off hit in five years. The hit marked Chicago’s 18th of the game as the Cubs extended their winning streak to nine.
Philadelphia, meanwhile, has now dropped nine straight for the first time since 2018.
The Phillies will look to regroup as they travel to Atlanta for a three-game series against the Braves beginning Friday. Rookie sensation Andrew Painter is scheduled to toe the rubber in the opener.
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