For Adam Morgan, his urgent task was not so simple. The Phillies left-hander faced the best team in baseball, the Cubs, for the second time in 11 days. The Cubs, who had won 39 of their first 55 games. The Cubs, who battered Morgan for six runs in four innings at Wrigley Field last month.
Morgan pitched Thursday night for his rotation spot. The Phillies lost, 6-4, but they learned something about the 26-year-old starter.
He endured a 30-pitch first inning that teetered toward disaster to complete six innings against a powerful offense. He made mistakes, as a fifth starter on a rebuilding team is wont to do, but he showed improvement in a pressure situation. They’ll take that because there is little to remember Thursday night about the offense.
The Phillies had one runner reach second base in eight innings against Cubs left-hander Jon Lester. That was in the second inning, when Peter Bourjos dropped down a two-out bunt that pushed Tyler Goeddel to second.
The ball rolled toward Lester, who backed away from it. The ace pitcher, cursed with the yips, avoids all throws to first base.
It is reasonable to wonder: Was the best chance at scoring against Lester to bunt the ball four times in a row? Those are the morose thoughts about a limp lineup.
The Phillies scored only when Lester departed. Freddy Galvis, 0 for his last 22 and saddled with three strikeouts in three at-bats Thursday, crushed a three-run homer in the ninth. Tommy Joseph followed with a solo shot. By then, the game was over.
Joseph, at least, is 9 for 24 (.375) with two homers and a double since replacing Ryan Howard in the lineup. Howard is scheduled to start Tuesday for the first time in more than a week.
Howard, pinch-hitting and representing the tying run, made the last out with a grounder to first.
The adversity arrived right away for Morgan. Chicago led, 1-0, three batters into the game. The Cubs loaded the bases with one out. Morgan’s pitch count rose and the chances of a Phillies win dipped. Then, Morgan responded.
He struck out Javier Baez on three pitches. He battled Addison Russell for seven pitches, the seventh a 94-mph fastball that Morgan fired past the Cubs shortstop. It was Morgan’s 30th pitch of the first inning and his most important of the night.
Morgan lugged a 7.07 ERA into the game. Both pitcher and team had been up front about the need for rapid improvement.
“It’s always under consideration,” Phillies manager Pete Mackanin said before the game. “There are guys that are knocking on the door. If you’re not cutting it, we’ve got to make a change. I’m pulling for him.”
Morgan erred in the fourth inning, when he hung a change-up to Jason Heyward, who needed a hanging change-up to escape an interminable slump. He hit a two-run homer. The Cubs made hard contact for much of the night, but Morgan survived for a quality start.
That should buy him some time, with his fourth straight start against a first-place team scheduled for Sunday in Washington. Lester, in eight shutout innings, silenced the Phillies with ease. He retired 13 in a row before Joseph’s single in the seventh. Maikel Franco followed with a 5-4-3 double play.
For much of the night, a man seated near the broadcast booths yelled, “We want a hit!” when the Phillies batted. After 3 hours and 5 minutes between a rebuilding team and an elite one, that man left with a sore throat and not enough hits.
RESULTS
Chicago Cubs 6 Philadelphia 4
Baltimore 4 Kansas City 1
NY Yankees 5 LA Angels 2
Detroit 11 Toronto 0
Texas 6 Houston 5
Tampa Bay 6 Arizona 4
San Diego 7 Atlanta 2
Cleveland 3 Seattle 1
Colorado 6 LA Dodgers 1