Chicago Cubs unable to complete late rally in Philly, lose 3-2

After becoming the first team in the league to reach 40-wins in 2016, the Chicago Cubs were looking to get the win train rolling. Things got off to a shaky start resulting in the home team grabbing the early lead and never looking back.

On the day that top outfield prospect, Albert Almora was called up to the big leagues, the Chicago Cubs suffered their 17th loss of the season. Philadelphia (29-30) relied on their closer, Jeanmar Gomez who entered the game in the eighth inning to limit the visiting team to one run on the evening.

Tonight’s starter, Kyle Hendricks (4-5, 2.90 ERA) was charged with two earned runs on four hits, two walks, one home run and six strikeouts in five innings of work prior to Joe Maddon bringing in Adam Warren.

Last year’s Rookie of the Year recipient, Kris Bryant started the evening in left field and had a little trouble locating a fly ball off the bat of Freddy Galvis in the first inning of the game.

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Galvis struck out three times against Jon Lester during the series opener but launched a three-run homer in the ninth inning, cutting into Chicago’s (40-17) lead.

Philadelphia took advantage of Bryant’s miscue and tallied the first run of the game on an RBI single courtesy of Maikel Franco with two outs in the inning. It seemed like one run was more than enough for Jerad Eickhoff who was absolutely dealing on the mound.

Eickhoff (3-8, 3.68 ERA) dominated this Cubs lineup, holding them to one earned run on two hits, two walks, and eight strikeouts before turning things over to his bullpen. Attacking Philly’s pen became a priority for this lineup.

We’ll jump to the fourth inning and Ryan Howard in the batter’s box. Howard launched his 366th career home run, extending his team’s lead to 2-0 over the first-place Cubs.

Veteran catcher Miguel Montero helped the Cubs drive in their first run of the ballgame but was not credited with an RBI. Montero grounded into a double play with the runners on the corners in the fifth.

Next: Soler to the DL, Almora called up

Outfielder Dexter Fowler made it a one-run ballgame in the eighth inning on a sacrifice fly to deep left field which allowed Matt Szczur to tag up from third.

Prospect Albert Almora made his first big league plate appearance as a pinch-hitter in the fifth but grounded out to third baseman Franco for the first out of the inning. Almora is expected to make his first ever start as a major league player tomorrow afternoon in the rubber match between John Lackey and Vince Velasquez.