CHICAGO — The Phillies’ Nick Maton stepped up to the plate with two outs in the second inning on Thursday. Jean Segura was on first base. Maton took one pitch, and then another, and then one more, which he tried to bunt, but pulled his bat back.
The scoreboard showed that it was 3-1 on that last pitch, which was out of the zone, so Maton started to walk toward first base, and Segura began to jog to second base. But the scoreboard was wrong, and Segura was tagged out to end the inning.
It was a chaotic, confusing series of events, and the perfect encapsulation of the Phillies’ past six games — all losses, including a 2-0 defeat on Thursday — against the Cubs this season. A team that has won the season series against the Padres and the Dodgers has looked completely off-kilter against a Cubs team that will finish its season with fewer than 80 wins. A Phillies team that has led baseball in scoring with runners in scoring position has suddenly lost the ability to do so. The Phillies’ defense is sloppy, their pitching looks vulnerable, and it’s all happening at the worst possible time, when every game matters as they try to end a 10-year playoff drought.
