As the Philadelphia Phillies enter mid-August, they find themselves staring up at four teams in the National League Wild Card race. It was clear a motivational victory was needed after Philadelphia’s previous series loss to the San Francisco Giants and the firing of hitting coach John Mallee Tuesday. They got just that Monday night with a 4-2 win over the National League Central-leading Chicago Cubs. Jason Vargas was able to lead the way with a quality start.
In their first game without John Mallee as their hitting coach, the Phillies’ offense struggled. Philadelphia managed to get two runners on in the first, but all three of the outs came in the form of strikeouts.