PHILADELPHIA — Cody Bellinger tripled, singled twice and drove in four runs, and the Chicago Cubs routed the Philadelphia Phillies 10-4 on Tuesday night.
Kyle Schwarber hit his 38th homer of the season and Bryce Harper hit his 30th for the Phillies, who clinched their first NL East title in 13 years on Monday night. Manager Rob Thomson played his regular lineup, minus catcher J.T. Realmuto, as Philadelphia seeks to secure home-field advantage in the National League playoffs.
“You obviously want to go out there and keep winning. It didn’t work out for us,” Schwarber said. “You tip your hat. The biggest thing is to put this behind us and focus on the next four games.”
The Phillies (93-65) have four games remaining and need to finish at least tied with the Brewers to get a first-round playoff bye. Milwaukee beat Pittsburgh on Tuesday night to move within 2 1/2 games of the Phillies.
“We want to keep pushing and winning baseball games,” Schwarber said.
Philadelphia can also clinch home field through the NL Championship Series by ending the season tied with or ahead of the Los Angeles Dodgers, who entered Tuesday night at 93-63.
After Harper put the Phillies up 1-0 in the first by reaching 30 home runs for the fifth time in his career, Philadelphia dug a huge hole in the second, when Tanner Banks (2-3) and Taijuan Walker combined to give up six runs.
“We had a really good inning,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said.
Walker, who signed a four-year, $72 million free-agent deal prior to the 2023 season, entered with the bases loaded and one out and was booed loudly, especially after issuing consecutive bases-loaded walks. The displeasure from Phillies fans got even louder when Seiya Suzuki hit a two-run single.
The Phillies will not need a No. 5 starter the rest of the way. It was a weak spot for most of the season, especially in the second half.
Philadelphia got a run back in the bottom of the inning on Garrett Stubbs’ RBI bunt single. Stubbs leaped over Bellinger with a headfirst slide into first base.
The Cubs blew the game open in the sixth with four more runs, highlighted by Bellinger’s bases-clearing triple to right field.
“All night we had runners on base,” Counsell said.
Drew Smyly (4-8) pitched a scoreless inning in relief of Cubs starter Justin Steele, who allowed two runs in four innings.
“All around good,” Counsell said of the Cubs’ pitchers.
Dansby Swanson doubled twice for Chicago, and Pete Crow-Armstrong had three hits.
Schwarber went deep in the eighth, a two-run shot.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Cubs: 1B Michael Busch (right triceps contusion) did not come out to play the field in the bottom of the second after being hit by a pitch in the top of the frame. … Suzuki didn’t bat in the eighth after spraining his ankle running the bases.
Phillies: LF Austin Hays returned to the lineup after being sidelined since Sept. 1 with a kidney infection. Hays went 1 for 4.
UP NEXT
The teams wrap up their three-game series on Wednesday night when Cubs RHP Javier Assad (7-5, 3.34 ERA) faces Phillies LHP Cristopher Sánchez (11-9, 3.25).
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb