Game Recap: Happ homers twice as Cubs power past Phillies

Eric Hartline - USA Today Sports

Dustin Riese - Senior Writer - 1 day ago

PHILADELPHIA - When the Chicago Cubs (41-26) began this nine-game trip, their goal was to come out with a 4-5 record, if not 5-4. Despite their overall struggles, they have a chance to finish with a 5-4 mark on this trip as they picked up a massive victory against the Philadelphia Phillies (38-29) at Citizens Bank Park on Tuesday.

Backed by a bullpen that tossed 4 2/3 scoreless frames, and an offense that connected for four homers, two coming from Ian Happ and, it was the Cubs doubling up the Phillies 8-4 to even things up. Of all the games to win in this series, this was the one you had the most confidence in, even with Colin Rea on the mound.

After getting off to a hot start to begin the season, Rea has not only come back down to earth, but has been struggling over the past month to the point where his days in the rotation could be numbered. Even with no walks and five strikeouts in this outing, his struggles continued as Rea failed to make it out of the fifth and was charged with four earned runs.

He was bailed out by an offense that connected for three homers in the first four innings, all of which were solo shots from Dansby Swanson, Happ, and Michael Busch, as the Cubs were once again relying on the long ball. The Cubs weren't the only team crushing the ball over the fence as Max Kepler took Rea deep in the second to put the Phillies in front 2-1 before watching the Cubs retake the lead shortly after 3-2.

Those three homers were the only runs Mick Abel would allow as the young right-hander labored through four innings, walking three and striking out three. Following the go-ahead Busch homer in the fourth, the Cubs had a chance to break the game open with Nico Hoerner and Reese McGuire coming away with a pair of singles ahead of a Happ walk to load the bases. Abel managed to escape that jam without further damage, and you had to wonder if that was going to come back and bite the Cubs.

It appeared as if that was going to be the case in the fifth, with Brandon Marsh leading things off double ahead of a Trea Turner single, and just like that, the Phillies had runners on the corners with no outs. Turner wound up stealing second, and two batters later, it was Alec Boehm coming through with a massive RBI single to put the Phillies back in front 4-3 with both bullpens set to take over.

If there is one significant advantage for the Cubs in this series, it's their bullpen, which has been the best in MLB since late April. By going 4 2/3 scoreless innings in this one, that trend continued as the Cubs' pen kept the Phillies' offense in check, which gave the Cubs' offense a chance to do something late.

That they did, as a Matt Shaw single, helped ignite the Cubs' offense in the sixth as Happ put the Cubs on top for good, 5-4, with his second homer of the day. Chicago continued to keep the pressure on in the seventh, and with Hoerner leading things off with a hit, the Cubs offense was in business again as they looked to take a late lead.

Leave it to McGuire to come through when called upon as he connected for a massive RBI double as part of a massive eighth inning to extend the Cubs lead to 6-4. The Cubs were just getting started as another walk to Happ kept the line moving with two more RBI singles from Kyle Tucker and Seiya Suzuki to cap off a three-run eighth inning with the Cubs now in front 8-4.

Chicago would go on to win by that score as the Ryan Pressly and Chris Flexen duo took care of the rest to keep the Phillies off the board in an 8-4 victory. Chicago had 13 hits in the game, with eight coming from a quartet of players in Happ, Suzuki, Swanson, and Hoerner. The Cubs will go for the series win and a winning road trip on Wednesday, sending Ben Brown to the mound to face off against Jesus Luzardo.