Phillies’ Losing Streak Extends to 9 in 10-Inning Loss, Taijuan Walker Released Pregame

The Philadelphia Phillies didn’t just lose again at Wrigley, they watched a winnable game slip away in an 8-7 extra innings loss that pushed their losing streak to nine and is starting to define their season.

The Phils started the scoring in the second, when Brandon Marsh hit a home run to center, which was the first home run that Cubs starter Edward Cabrera had given up all season. In the bottom of the second, the Cubs scored when Carson Kelly scored on a Dansby Swanson sacrifice fly. An inning later, the Cubs opened the floodgates against Cristopher Sanchez with Seiya Suzuki and Kelly singling, bringing up Michael Bush, who hit a home run to deep center.

Marsh answered back by driving in Bryce Harper to cut the deficit to two. The Cubs scored two more runs, but the Phillies never gave up, scoring three in the seventh, one in the eighth, tying the game at six. The Cubs came back to pull ahead 7-6, until an Adolis Garcia blast to left in the ninth tied it at seven, bringing this game to extra innings.

In the bottom of the 10th, Tanner Banks loaded the bases, and Swanson singled home the winning run for an 8-7 victory, which extended their winning streak to nine.

Phillies Starting Pitching Continues to Struggle

Coming into this series finale, the Phillies’ starting pitching has wildly struggled so far this season. What was a strength last season and carried them throughout the whole season, the starting pitching has vastly struggled, so for this season. The Phils are 28th in the MLB this season in team ERA with a 5.37 mark. Through 24 games last season, this rotation sat at a 3.49 ERA and looked like the backbone of a contender, and now they’re sitting near the bottom of the league without a single starter getting through seven innings, which is exactly how a nine-game losing streak shows up without warning.

What has been particularly frustrating for the Phils is that they don’t have a starter who has gone seven-plus innings so far this season. Without Zack Wheeler in the rotation until his projected start on Saturday, the Phils starters have not found their rhythm so far.

Thursday afternoon, Sanchez didn’t fare any better, only lasting 5.1 innings, tying his career high of 12 hits in the game with six earned runs. The most frustrating part is that he was giving up bloop hits as well as the long ball.

Phillies Offense Fights Back Against Cubs Pitching

So far this season, Cabrera has been tough against offenses, and for the first few innings he was keeping the Phils at bay with weak contact, but as the game continued the Cubs starter was giving up more and more solid contact, and in the sixth inning the Phils hitters figured out the Cabrera puzzle when Marsh hit his second solo home run of the game, on a wind-aided home run which was caught in the basket. Bryson Stott strung together a base hit, Alec Bohm doubled, and Justin Crawford used his speed and a very solid deke from Stott at third to draw an errant throw from Alex Bregman to score two and bring the game to 5-4 at that point.

Every time the Cubs would pull back ahead, the Phillies would fight back. In the top of the ninth, Adolis Garcia came in as a pinch hitter and tied the game at seven.

GARCIA TIES IT IN THE 9TH#Phillies pic.twitter.com/9aRAyDBQz5

— Philly Sports Reports (@PhlySprtsReprts) April 23, 2026

But when the Phils had a runner on third with less than two outs in the top of the ninth, they failed to score the go-ahead run. This is a continuation of the struggles the Phils have had this season, the lack of hitting with runners in scoring position. What stood out was that the Phils were battling at the plate and controlling the strike zone, particularly late in the game, which is something that they haven’t done all season. In the first seven innings, Phillies hitters saw 83 pitches, and in the eighth, ninth, and 10th, they saw 73. When the Phillies make the other teams throw more pitches, they get into favorable counts where they can do damage.

Rotation Help is on the Way

Prior to the first pitch on Thursday, Dave Dombrowski announced that the Phillies had released Taijuan Walker. Walker has struggled this season with a 9.13 ERA and a staggering 23 earned runs in 22 2/3 innings with eight home runs. This is in large part why the starting ERA is so high; there was a massive body language tell with a few of the guys playing behind him. When Suzuki hit the home run in his final appearance for the Phils on Wednesday, Bohm’s shoulders slumped, and he had a look of pain on his face. While this move will surprise nobody, it’s for the better of the rotation and the pitching staff as a whole.

Rob Thomson sounded like he understood the move, but it wasn’t a move he took any kind of pleasure in.

“This guy always took the ball, never refused it, always answered the questions after the game,” he said pregame. “With the injuries we had last year, Wheeler, [Aaron] Nola, Ranger [Suarez], for a while, this guy took down 125 innings basically for us. He helped us get in the playoffs.”

With this move, the Phils will use his roster spot on Wheeler, who is slated to start on Saturday in Atlanta, taking on Bryce Elder. This will give the bullpen, which has been vastly overworked this season thus far. In this game, they had to eat more innings than normal, going to extra innings, dropping this game in dramatic fashion. They’re getting closer in spots and help is on the way, but until it actually shows up on the field, this is still a team finding ways to lose games it used to win.

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