Cubs sweep season series against Phillies
Associated Press
The Phillies lost their fifth straight game and dropped into a tie for the National League's final wild card berth as the Cubs swept the season series from Philadelphia with a 2-0 victory on Thursday at Wrigley Field.
Philadelphia was tied with Milwaukee at 83-72, pending the Brewers' game against Miami later Thursday in the opener of a four-game series.
Seeking their first playoff berth since 2011, the Phillies have lost the first three games of a season-ending 10-game trip and 10 of 13 overall since peaking at a season-best 80-62. Philadelphia has scored 3 runs or fewer in nine of those 13 games.
The Phillies were 22-29 on June 3 when Rob Thomson replaced Joe Girardi as manager.
Philadelphia holds the tiebreaker against Milwaukee, winning the season series 4-2. The Phillies go to MLB-worst Washington for four games, then close with three at AL-best Houston. The Brewers finish with three games at home against Arizona.
Bryce Harper had 3 of 6 hits for the Phillies, who are 1 for their last 21 with runners in scoring position. J.T. Realmuto went 0 for 4 and struck out twice in his 1,000th game.
Cubs rookie Javier Assad (2-2) allowed 5 hits in 5 innings as he rebounded from pair of rough outings when he allowed 8 runs in 6 innings. Keegan Thompson gave up 1 hit over 3 innings for his second big-league save and first this year.
Patrick Wisdom doubled twice and drove in a run and Seiya Suzuki - playing his first game after returning from paternity leave in Japan - was 2 for 3 as the Cubs completed a three-game sweep in which they limited the Phillies to 3 runs. The North Siders have won eight of nine overall.
Ranger Suarez (10-6) gave up 2 runs and 7 hits in 6 innings. He had been 4-0 in 12 starts since a June 29 defeat to Atlanta.
Three of the Cubs' first four batters reached. Wisdom's first double drove in a run in what would have been a bigger rally had Willson Contreras not been out at home on Happ's chopper to Suarez,
Suzuki tripled with two outs in the fifth when center fielder Brandon Marsh lost his deep fly in the sun and the ball dropped in front of him, inches from his glove. Suzuki scored on Happ's single.
Happ made a nifty sliding catch of Marsh's fly at the left side wall for the first out of the ninth.
After singling in these second, Jean Segura was tagged out by Assad to end the inning after he wandered off first after losing track of the count to batter Nick Maton. The count was 3-1, but Wrigley's antique center-field scoreboard showed ball four. Segura pointed the scoreboard, to no avail.