Wisdom, Rivas homer as Cubs beat fading Phillies 6-3
PHILADELPHIA - Patrick Wisdom and Alfonso Rivas hit back-to-back homers for the Cubs in a 6-3 win over a Philadelphia Phillies team running out of time to make a serious run in the NL playoff race.
Wilson Contreras led off the fifth with a single, Wisdom hit his 26th homer of the season and Rivas followed with the first of his big-league career. It was 3-1 on 12 pitches.
Rafael Ortega added an RBI double for a 4-1 lead, and another in the seventh to make it 5-3. He also scored on Ian Happ's double.
Wisdom hit the latest crushing homer against the Phillies facing two strikes. Colorado's Garrett Hampson hit two 0-2 pitches for homers in Sunday's 5-4 win.
"There's too many 0-2 pitches right in the heart of the zone," Phillies manager Joe Girardi said before the game. "If a guy takes a pitch down and away and it's just on the corner and he hits that, you kind of go, 'OK.' But not the ones that are in the heart."
Cubs starter Adrian Sampson (1-2) gave up two runs in five innings. Rowan Wick struck out the side in the ninth for his fourth save.
The Phillies lost again to another team long out of the postseason hunt; they just dropped three of four at home to Colorado, which is 21-51 on the road. The Phillies remain 4½ games behind first-place Atlanta in the NL East and 2½ games behind Cincinnati in the wild-card race.
Bryce Harper had an RBI double in the fifth, continuing continued his torrid pace, and scored in the inning to make it 4-3. He entered with an MLB-best 1.032 OPS, which would have made the star outfielder a more serious MVP candidate had the Phillies truly been in a pennant race.
The Cubs placed Jason Heyward on the seven-day concussion IL (retroactive to Sept. 12) and selected Trayce Thompson from Triple-A Iowa. Michael Hermosillo was transferred to the 60-day IL.
Davis dazzles in debut:
Brennen Davis didn't disappoint on his first night in Triple A. The Cubs' top prospect hit home runs in his first two at-bats with the Iowa Cubs on Tuesday in Omaha.
Davis struck out and flied out in his next two-at bats. The 6-foot-4 outfielder was promoted from Double A Tennessee to finish the final three weeks of the minor league season. He hit a pair of homers in the MLB Futures Game in July.
Nico Hoerner, on a rehab assignment, had an RBI double in this game, while OF Greg Deichmann was 3-for-5 with 3 RBI.
• Daily Herald sports writer Mike McGraw contributed to this report.