The Philadelphia Phillies sprayed five runs across the seventh, eighth and ninth innings on Thursday in Chicago, only to watch their late-game comeback be for naught in extras. Dansby Swanson sent a bases-loaded, walk-off single to right-center field in the bottom of the 10th and Wrigley Field into its latest frenzy as it celebrated an 8-7 victory. The Friendly Confines enjoyed a four-game sweep of the Phillies and, before that, a three-game sweep of the New York Mets.
Chicago (16-9) has won nine straight games and is tied with the Cincinnati Reds atop the NL Central. Philadelphia (8-17), on the other hand, has lost nine consecutive games and is tied with the Kansas City Royals for MLB’s worst record.Dansby Swanson wins a wild one in #WALKOFF fashion!The @Cubs have won NINE in a row 🐻 pic.twitter.com/wnvaadOcKr— MLB (@MLB) April 23, 2026The Phillies’ tailspin comes on the heels of their NL East rival Mets notably dropping 12 games in a row, New York’s worst slide since the 2002 season that it finally ended on Wednesday against the Minnesota Twins.The last time Philadelphia suffered nine straight defeats was September 2018.
The Phillies haven’t toiled through a 10-game losing streak since they lost 11 consecutive games in September 1999.Nothing is going right for the Phillies at the moment. Not even last year’s NL Cy Young Award runner-up could get them back on track Thursday.The Cubs piled up five straight hits against Philadelphia ace Cristopher Sánchez in the third inning, scoring three runs that frame. All three runs were driven in by one swing, and it came on a Michael Busch dinger.Ian Happ went yard in the fourth, and Sánchez clocked out with six earned runs in 5 1/3 innings of work, a stain on his ERA, which was sitting pretty at 1.59 pregame.
The Phillies rallied late, with Edmundo Sosa and Adolis García tying the game as pinch-hitters in the eighth and ninth innings, respectively. That was, before Swanson put the Cubs back in front for good in the 10th.Chicago and Philadelphia are trending in opposite directions after playing each other seven times in the last 11 days.Early in the teams’ latest series, Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski dismissed speculation that manager Rob Thomson is on the hot seat. Since, the Phillies have lost three more games and lost their starting catcher to the injured list.