Smooth sailing: Phillies 6, Cubs 4

The Philadelphia Phillies (56-29) kicked off their six-game road trip with a 6-4 victory over the Chicago Cubs (39-47) at Wrigley Field on Tuesday night.

Michael Mercado (1-0) recorded his first career win in his first career start after debuting with a scoreless inning in the Phillies’ 8-1 win in Detroit eight days ago.

It was a battle of injury replacement pitchers as Mercado and the Cubs’ Hayden Wesneski filled spots for established starters (respectively), Taijuan Walker and Javier Assad, both coincidentally landing on the injured list on June 23rd.

After a scoreless first, Garrett Stubbs opened the scoring with a cue shot double down the opposite line in left, scoring Nick Castellanos…