Ian Happ hit two of the Chicago Cubs’ four home runs in an 8-4 victory over the host Philadelphia Phillies on Tuesday.
Happ, who also homered in Monday’s series opener, has four home runs in eight games on the Cubs’ road trip after entering the trek with three homers in 50 games. Dansby Swanson and Michael Busch also homered for Chicago, which had lost four of its previous six contests.
Max Kepler and Alec Bohm each drove in two runs for Philadelphia, which has lost 10 of its last 12. Phillies outfielder Brandon Marsh went 2-for-2 before leaving with left elbow soreness.
After two strong outings to begin his major league career, Phillies rookie Mick Abel fell behind for the first time when Swanson homered to center field in the second.
Philadelphia jumped in front in the bottom of the frame as Kepler delivered a two-run shot against Chicago starter Colin Rea. However, Happ forged a 2-2 tie in the third with a line-drive homer to right.
Busch added to the lead with a fourth-inning solo shot against Abel, who gave up three runs and six hits over four innings. The rookie struck out three and walked three.
Rea allowed four runs and seven hits in 4 1/3 innings. He exited with runners on second and third and one out in the fifth before Ryan Brasier came on and surrendered a game-tying two-run single to Bohm.
However, the deadlock didn’t last long. Matt Shaw singled with one out in the sixth and, two batters later, Happ hammered a cutter from Taijuan Walker (2-5) into the right-field seats to create a 5-4 edge.
Caleb Thielbar (2-1) retired the Phillies in order in the sixth and Brad Keller took care of things in the seventh.
Reese McGuire, Kyle Tucker and Seiya Suzuki had run-scoring hits in the eighth as the Cubs pulled away.
Ryan Pressly blanked Philadelphia in the eighth and Chris Flexen slammed the door in the ninth.
–Field Level Media
