Cubs sweep Philadelphia
Slumping Phillies cling to slim lead in wild-card race
The Phillies lost their fifth game in a row and held just a half-game lead for the National League’s final wild-card berth after the host Chicago Cubs swept the season series from Philadelphia with a 2-0 victory on Thursday.
Philadelphia is at 83-72, the Brewers 83-73 after a loss to Miami later Thursday.
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 three runs or fewer in nine of those 13 games.
“We’ve got to swing the bats a little bit better than we did, especially with runners in scoring position,” interim manager Rob Thomson said, “But yeah, we’ve got to turn around here pretty quick. We’re getting good pitching. We’ve just got to string some hits together and we’ll be fine.”
The Phillies were 22-29 on June 3 when Thomson replaced Joe Girardi as manager.
Philadelphia holds the tiebreaker against Milwaukee, winning the season series 42. The Phillies go to major league-worst Washington for four games, then close with three at AL-best Houston. The Brewers have three more with Miami and finish with three games at home against Arizona.
More games
Red Sox 5, Orioles 3: J.D. Martinez hit a two-run homer to break an eighth-inning tie and Boston beat Baltimore for the third game in a row. The Orioles were 3½ games out of the final AL wild-card spot after winning the series opener but face the first-place Yankees this weekend needing to overcome at best a 4½-game deficit to Seattle with just six games to play.
Marlins 4, Brewers 2: Avisail Garcia hit a 411-foot grand slam in the eighth inning to lift visiting Miami past Milwaukee in a critical game in the wild card race for the Brewers.
White Sox 4, Twins 3: Mark Payton had two hits and an RBI and sparked an eighth-inning rally by reaching on an error in the victory against host Minnesota.
Guardians 2, Rays 1: Steven Kwan doubled to score a run then scored himself on an RBI single by Oscar Gonzalez in an eighth inning rally that led host Cleveland past Tampa Bay.
Tigers 10, Royals 3: Willi Castro and Javy Báez homered to lead Detroit past visiting Kansas City for a three- game sweep that moved the Tigers out of last place in the AL Central.