PHILADELPHIA -- Daniel Palencia swung around on the mound and put his hands on his hips, watching as the 100 mph fastball he just delivered was sent to the base of the wall in left-center field. The reliever headed off the field slowly as the lights flashed red at Citizens Bank Park and the party was on for the Phillies.
Brandon Marsh’s long single off Palencia sealed a two-run rally by Philadelphia in the 11th inning that put the period on a 4-3 loss for the National League Central-leading Cubs. It's the first time in a month that Chicago has lost consecutive games, even as the relief corps and defense did what they could to hold the line while awaiting one last offensive breakthrough.
“The bullpen’s awesome,” starter Matthew Boyd said. “They’ve been asked to do so much. Danny’s been awesome. All those guys have been great back there. You’ve got a lot of comfort giving the ball to anybody. Regardless of what’s asked of them, they’ve just answered the call.”
This was one of those nights when small details mattered.
Boyd was working opposite Phillies ace Zack Wheeler, creating a situation where “there’s not a lot of margin for error,” as the lefty put it. That is why Chicago’s strong defensive play -- highlighted by two outfield assists (one from Kyle Tucker in right and another via Ian Happ in left) and a standout day for third baseman Matt Shaw -- was crucial in keeping things close.
It is also why Boyd, who picked Trea Turner off first base in the third, was kicking himself over a throwing error on another pickoff attempt in the fifth. He misfired in an effort to nab Otto Kemp, who advanced to third with no outs on the play. That led to a run that put the Cubs in a 2-1 hole.
“That’s a difference in that game,” Boyd said.
And after Happ delivered a game-tying home run off lefty Matt Strahm -- one that soared a projected 424 feet to the left-field stands in the eighth -- and Pete Crow-Armstrong came through with a go-ahead double in the 11th, the North Siders looked poised to avoid their first back-to-back losses since May 6-9.
The Phillies’ two-run push in the 11th, which was ignited by a pair of bunt singles, erased that possibility. Palencia escaped a jam in the 10th, but the hard-throwing righty found his way to the loss column when Philadelphia used a string of four straight hits to produce the walk-off.
“We gave up 16 hits and only four runs,” said manager Craig Counsell, who was ejected by home-plate umpire Stu Scheurwater in the ninth inning. “We were kind of working out of some jams and we got some double plays to get out of stuff. We did a nice job. Ultimately, we had five hits in 11 innings. That’s probably not going to create a lot of offense. We got it tied and had a shot, and they had a good 11th.”
It was a sour ending to what had been another solid night for the bullpen, which has undergone changes since early April and has quietly been one of baseball’s best over the past month-plus.
“You break camp and you think that’s your bullpen and then, a month later, it’s not,” Happ said. “The guys that have come in have done a tremendous job and completely changed the complexion of what it looks like down there.”
Collectively, the bullpen has turned in a Major League-leading 1.68 ERA (20 earned runs in 107 innings), dating back to May 7. One day earlier, veteran Ryan Pressly allowed nine runs in a rough outing. Since that point, Pressly, Drew Pomeranz, Brad Keller, Caleb Thielbar and Chris Flexen have no earned runs allowed between them.
Following Boyd’s six innings of work, Pressly worked a scoreless seventh and struck out Kyle Schwarber and Alec Bohm with two runners on to sidestep any damage. The pitches Pressly fired for the strikeouts were his two hardest-thrown fastballs (95.3 mph and 95.4 mph, respectively) of the season.
Keller -- who has gone from a non-roster invitee in the spring to one of Counsell’s trusted high-leverage arms -- then continued his strong run with 1 1/3 clean innings. Pomeranz, who has been enjoying a career resurgence, worked the final two outs of the ninth.
“They’ve been absolutely lights out,” Happ said. “Every time somebody’s number gets called and they come in the game, it feels like they're going to put up a zero.”