A soft line drive into shallow left-center field isn’t the most crowd-pleasing way to start a rally, but for Cody Bellinger, it got the job done. Two batters later, Jared Young lined the first pitch he saw into the right-field corner for an RBI triple that tied the score.
The sequence indicated that the Cubs were on their way to addressing their issues against right-handed pitching by strengthening their left-handed hitting group. But it was only the second inning of what turned into a 3-1 loss to the Phillies on Thursday. The Cubs’ skid reached four games, a sign that they still have things to figure out if they want to go into the All-Star break on a positive note.
