Phillies Take Series Win Over Cubs Thanks to Great Starting Pitching
un 9, 2025; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Phillies starting pitcher Zack Wheeler (45) reacts with teammates after recording his 1000th career strikeout against the Chicago Cubs in the fifth inning at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Ross-Imagn Images
Behind their dominant starting pitchers, the Phillies took a series win against the top-ranked NL foe, the Chicago Cubs. The Fightin’s fought their way to an extra-innings victory on Monday with well-executed small-ball and a bases-loaded walk-off fly ball from Brandon Marsh to send the fans home happy. Tuesday was a bullpen disaster-class, but the offense managed to tally 10 hits, eight of them being singles. In the deciding game on Wednesday, the offense backed a rebound performance from Jesus Luzardo to secure the series win with a 7-2 victory.
The bats came through more often than not, and the bullpen had its peaks and valleys. In the midst of it all, Aaron Nola got a setback from a rib injury, Carlos Hernandez was designated for assignment, and Otto Kemp got his first major league hit.
All in all, it was the dominant starting pitching that earned the Phils the series victory.
Wheels Are Rolling
Zack Wheeler opened the Cubs series Monday with a Wheeler-esque start. His fastball was dominant, garnering 9 whiffs on 42 heaters that peaked at 98 mph. The sweeper earned 5 called strikes and 3 whiffs, disrupting Cubs hitters.
He held a top 5 offense in the league to 3 hits and 1 run, achieved by a Kyle Tucker home run in the first. After that, Wheels cruised.
In the sixth inning, Wheeler recorded his 1,000 career strikeout as a Phillie by burning a fastball by Tucker, making him the tenth player in franchise history to do so. That would be Wheeler’s seventh and last strikeout of the night as he finished up his outing in the sixth inning.
After yet another dominant start for the Phillies’ ace, Wheeler’s ERA sits at 2.85 (19th among qualifying pitchers); his WHIP sits at an elite .90 (5th among qualifying pitchers) — quietly forming another Cy Young campaign.
New(er) Kid on the Block
Following Wheeler’s early-week dominance was Mick Abel, the 23-year-old Phillies prospect who is looking to stake his position in the rotation. Abel’s first two starts were nothing short of exceptional:
5/18 v. Pirates: 6 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 9 K, 0 BB
6/4 v. Blue Jays: 5.1 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 3 K, 0 BB
The Pirates and Blue Jays offered a comfortable buildup in competition with the Cubs giving Abel the opportunity to prove he belongs.
Abel ran into traffic early as he walked Tucker for his first major league base on balls and then gave up a single to Seiya Suzuki. However, Abel got Cubs phenom Pete Crow-Armstrong to ground into a double play — Crow-Armstrong’s first GIDP of the year.
In the second, Abel gave up a two-strike solo home run to Dansby Swanson, which would not be the only home run he gave up all day. Ian Happ got hold of a two-strike hanging curveball to tie the game up at two in the third. And an inning later, Michael Busch cracked a solo shot on a poorly located fastball in a two-strike count.
Abel’s command was off on Tuesday; he walked three batters and gave up three home runs while ahead in the count. There was more traffic on the base-paths than Abel allowed in his first two starts, but he managed to work through it.
After Busch’s solo shot, Abel loaded the bases up with two outs and Tucker coming to the plate. Tucker has a .909 OPS on the year, and Abel was 83 pitches into the game — he threw 78 and 84 pitches in his two previous starts.
Despite this, Rob Thomson left the rookie on the mound to get out of his own mess. Abel went down 3-1 in the count, but he battled back and got Tucker to chop at a curveball to end the inning and his start.
It wasn’t a pretty start, and it wasn’t as good as his previous ones, but Abel proved he could pitch with resilience despite not having his best command, which has been an issue for him in the minors. The Phils later lost that game through a stale offense and gruesome bullpen, but Abel’s start meant a little more than that loss did.
On His Third Start, He Rose
Eleven days ago, Luzardo gave up 12 runs to the Milwaukee Brewers. Three days later, he got cornrows to curse the bad juju that may have stuck around from his previous start.
Luzardo started two days later and gave up 8 runs to the Blue Jays. It was a valiant effort, but the superstition came up short. His ERA ballooned to 4.46. It was 2.15 before his start against the Brewers.
So, when Luzardo took the mound on Wednesday in a rubber match against one of, if not the best, team in the National League, Phillies fans were crossing their fingers.
Luzardo got the first two Cubs to go down swinging on a breaking pitch and the fourth to pop out. A promising start for the lefty, but still not enough to move the needle.
The needle was likely moved in the second when the first two batters Luzardo faced singled into left field, and he was in a jam with two runners on, no outs. Nico Hoerner, Matt Shaw, and Vidal Brujan would all go down swinging to end the inning.
As the Phillies’ offense poured on the runs, Luzardo was more of the same. The Cubs tacked on a run in the fourth with two doubles after a missed catch in foul territory by Castellanos, but the southpaw was unfazed. He worked himself through six innings on 99 pitches. All ten of his strikeouts were swinging, and he allowed no free bases on balls.
As mentioned on the Phillies TV broadcast, Luzardo tinkered around with his glove positioning during his session between starts. It was rumored that he was tipping his pitches, and that could be how the Brewers and Blue Jays had the advantage over him. Rob Friedman gave his own analysis with a side-by-side of Luzardo’s hand position before throwing a changeup.
Luzardo also changed up his pitch repertoire. Against the Blue Jays, Luzardo threw 14 four-seam fastballs and 10 sinkers; Wednesday, he threw 46 four-seam fastballs and 0 sinkers. His sinker statistically has a negative value according to PitchProfiler.
70 of his 99 pitches were strikes compared to his previous start of 38 strikes to 61 pitches.
It was a good day for Luzardo, who held MLB’s runs per game leader to one run. His stuff was moving well, he left hitters guessing, and didn’t let base-path traffic affect him.
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Sean Regenye
Sean Regenye is a sophomore broadcast journalism major at Penn State University. He is a die-hard Philly sports fan and loves baseball, especially the Phillies.
