Zack Wheeler\u2019s strong return from paternity leave helped the Phillies snap a five-game losing skid Monday night at Citizens Bank Park.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Wheeler didn\u2019t pick up a win, but he was excellent in the Phillies\u2019 4-3, 11-inning win to open their series vs. the Cubs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Brandon Marsh delivered the walk-off hit, an 11th-inning knock to the base of the left-center wall off of Daniel Palencia.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The last of Wheeler\u2019s seven strikeouts was his 1,000th as a Phillie. He pitched six innings in his first start since May 29 and allowed three hits, one walk and one run.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Cubs starter Matthew Boyd went six innings and conceded eight hits and two runs. The southpaw struck out no Phillies and walked two.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Kyle Tucker spoiled Wheeler\u2019s first inning by smashing a 1-2 fastball into the right-field seats.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In the velocity department, Wheeler appeared well-rested out of the gates. He threw 13 four-seamers in the first and averaged 97.5 mph with his heater. Wheeler\u2019s final four-seam average was 96.6 mph, which is 0.8 mph above his season average.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Several long Cubs at-bats prevented Wheeler from a truly deep outing. The righty\u2019s pitch count rose considerably in the top of the fifth. After a two-out Matt Shaw single, Ian Happ took nine pitches to strike out.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Boyd pounded the strike zone and kept the Phillies scoreless through three innings.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Phils didn\u2019t boost their cause on the bases. Edmundo Sosa wanted a double on his second-inning jam shot down the right-field line, but Tucker rifled him out at second base. Boyd picked Trea Turner off first base to finish the third.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Phillies evened the game up in the fourth.<\/p>\n
Kyle Schwarber came back from an 0-2 count to begin the frame with a walk. Alec Bohm and Nick Castellanos each followed by lacing first-pitch singles to left field.\u00a0<\/p>\n
J.T. Realmuto\u2019s grounder to third drove in Schwarber and put runners on the corners with one out. A pitch later, the inning was over. Sosa rolled a routine double-play ball to Cubs shortstop Dansby Swanson.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The bottom of the fifth was all about Otto Kemp. The 25-year-old notched his first MLB hit on a leadoff knock to left-center. He then sprinted to third base after a wayward Boyd pickoff attempt and scored his first big-league run on an opposite-field Weston Wilson single, giving the Phillies a 2-1 edge.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Despite leadoff hits in the sixth and seventh innings, the Phillies couldn’t add to their lead. A single swing tied the contest in the eighth. Ian Happ ripped a 3-2 Matt Strahm sinker 424 feet to left field.<\/p>\n
The Phillies should’ve had a leadoff runner in the eighth, but Castellanos tried to stretch a single to left into a double and wasn’t close to successful in his high-risk venture. <\/p>\n
Kemp reached to kick off the bottom of the ninth, hustling to first base after a squib just in front of home plate. Cubs manager Craig Counsell was ejected for arguing that Kemp should’ve been called for runner’s interference on the play. The inning then fizzled out; Brandon Marsh, Max Kepler and Turner all came up empty.<\/p>\n
Jordan Romano pitched a 1-2-3 top of the 10th, but the Phillies again failed to find a timely hit in the bottom of the inning. Following Bohm’s double play, Castellanos’ ground out sent the game to the 11th. <\/p>\n
The Cubs pulled ahead in the 11th on Pete Crow-Armstrong’s one-out RBI double off of Carlos Hernandez. The Phils bounced right back, though.<\/p>\n
Realmuto lined a game-tying single to right. Bryson Stott and Kemp then both legged out bunt hits, loading the bases with no outs. Marsh handled the rest. <\/p>\n
The scheduled starters Tuesday night are the Phils\u2019 Mick Abel (1-0, 0.79 ERA) and the Cubs\u2019 Colin Rea (4-2, 3.59 ERA). Wednesday\u2019s pitching matchup is Jesus Luzardo (5-2, 4.46 ERA) vs. Ben Brown (3-4, 5.37 ERA).\u00a0<\/p>\n
Thomson\u2019s message for slumping Stott\u00a0<\/p>\n
Turner led off against a lefty and Stott sat until pinch-hitting for Sosa in the eighth inning. <\/p>\n
Asked whether Turner would stay at the top of the Phils\u2019 lineup vs. righties, Phillies manager Rob Thomson didn\u2019t reveal anything.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll see tomorrow,\u201d he said. \u201cI think we\u2019ve got a righty tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stott\u2019s been in a major funk of late. Entering Monday, he’d been 2 for 26 (.083 average) in June with no extra-base hits and two walks.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cStart controlling the strike zone again, try not to do too much, think left field \u2014 because that\u2019s who he is,\u201d Thomson said. \u201cI don\u2019t think he\u2019s thinking about hitting home runs, but he\u2019s certainly pressing to get hits and get on base. He\u2019s got to relax and just be himself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Injury updates\u00a0<\/p>\n
Aaron Nola (right side soreness, right ankle sprain) had a doctor\u2019s appointment Monday.<\/p>\n
\u201cI talked to him and he said he\u2019s feeling a little better, but he\u2019s going to get checked out by a doctor,\u201d Thomson said.<\/p>\n