Ian Happ appears to be starting one of his patented hot streaks.

After a home run in Monday’s loss, Happ went deep twice Tuesday in Philadelphia. That, along with long balls from Dansby Swanson and Michael Busch, helped the Cubs to an 8-4 win over the Phillies Tuesday evening.

The Cubs had pretty good chance to score in the first inning off Mick Abel. With one out, Kyle Tucker walked and Seiya Suzuki singled.

But Pete Crow-Armstrong hit into a double play to end the inning. About that, from BCB’s JohnW53:

Pete Crow-Armstrong had not grounded into a double play this year until he did so in the first inning, in his 281st plate appearance. His season-starting streak of 66 games with no GIDP ties him for the 16th longest in Cubs history, with Phil Cavarretta in 1947 (290 PA) and Tom Goodwin in 2004 (104 PA).Rick Monday had a 67-game streak in 1974 (305 PA).

The team record is 96 by Jeff Blauser in 1999 (235 PA). Ed Bouchee went 86 games in 1961 (326 PA), as did Leon Durham in 1985 (344 PA).

PCA’s streak was the longest since 78 games (286 PA) by Luis Valbuena in 2014.

The Cubs got on the board in the second on a home run by Dansby Swanson, his 12th [VIDEO].

Like Happ, Swanson is a streaky hitter. Let’s hope both of them go on streaks starting right now.

The Phillies scored twice in the second on a two-run homer by Max Kepler, a drive on a very high arc (40 degree launch angle!) that at first looked like it might be caught.

Happ’s first homer of the night, leading off the third, tied the game 2-2 [VIDEO].

One more solo home run, by Michael Busch in the fourth, gave the Cubs a 3-2 lead [VIDEO].

In the fifth, a double by Brandon Marsh, a single by Trea Turner and stolen base by Turner put Phillies on second and third with one out after Colin Rea struck out Kyle Schwarber. Ryan Brasier relieved Rea and served up a two-run single to Alec Bohm, giving the Phillies a 4-3 lead.

Rea’s line — 4⅓ innings, four runs — doesn’t look great, but the last two of those runs scored after he left the game.

In the top of the sixth, Matt Shaw singled with one out. Reese McGuire then beat a double-play relay to first. That was important because Happ then launched his second home run of the game, giving the Cubs the lead back [VIDEO].

The launch angle on that one was even higher than Kepler’s [VIDEO].

About Happ’s second homer, from BCB’s JohnW53:

Ian Happ’s go-ahead two-run homer in the sixth inning snapped a streak of eighth consecutive solo homers by the Cubs. Their longest previous such streak this season was four homers, three times. They had three five-homer streaks last year. In 2023, they hit 10 straight solo shots, April 12-17. In 2022, they hit 11 in a row, May 17-22.

Also, that makes 14 home runs for the Cubs in the first eight games of this road trip. That’s as many home runs as the Cubs had hit in their last 20 games at Wrigley Field.

So it’s the sixth inning and that’s already the fourth lead change of the game. Fortunately for the Cubs, it was the last such change.

The Cubs put the game away with a three-run eighth, their first runs of the game that did not involve a home run. Nico Hoerner led off with a single and one out later, scored on this double by Reese McGuire [VIDEO].

Happ followed with a walk and then Tucker singled in McGuire [VIDEO].

Happ stopped at second on that hit and scored on this single by Seiya Suzuki [VIDEO].

The Cubs, once again, got shutdown relief. After Brasier left the game, Caleb Thielbar, Brad Keller, Ryan Pressly and Chris Flexen threw four shutout innings, allowed two hits and a walk, and struck out three.

They got some help defensively from Shaw [VIDEO].

I’m not sure where this “Matt Shaw is really a second baseman playing third” meme caught on, but let’s put it to rest. Shaw played more games at third in the minors than at any other position, and the eye test as well as the numbers so far in the majors say he’s turning himself into a very good defensive third baseman.

Back to the game — here’s the final out, fittingly caught by Happ [VIDEO].

Here are Craig Counsell’s postgame comments [VIDEO].

And here are some postgame remarks from Rea and Happ [VIDEO].

The Cardinals lost Tuesday, their third straight defeat, so the Cubs’ lead in the NL Central increased to five games, matching their biggest lead of 2025 to date.

The Cubs will go for the series win Wednesday afternoon at Citizens Bank Park. Ben Brown will start for the Cubs and Jesús Luzardo goes for the Phillies. Game time is 12:05 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network (and MLB Network outside the Cubs and Phillies market territories).

The BCB game preview for today’s game will post at 10 a.m. CT.