Chicago Cubs’ Javier Assad gets roughed up by Philadelphia Phillies in 13-7 loss

Q: How many runs did Javier Assad give up against the Philadelphia Phillies?

Javier Assad gave up nine runs during the game against the Philadelphia Phillies.

Q: What was the final score of the Chicago Cubs vs. Philadelphia Phillies game?

The final score was 13-7 in favor of the Philadelphia Phillies.

Q: What did Javier Assad say about his performance after the game?

Javier Assad stated that it was a bad day and mentioned the need to watch video to understand what went wrong.

Q: Why did Cubs manager Craig Counsell need more outs from Javier Assad?

Manager Craig Counsell needed more outs from Assad due to a taxed bullpen and the game situation worsening in the fifth inning.

PHILADELPHIA — Over the course of a 162-game season, there are days when the starting pitcher needs to stay in and provide innings during a rough outing.

It was Chicago Cubs right-hander Javier Assad’s night to wear it Monday at Citizens Bank Park. The Philadelphia Phillies tagged Assad for nine runs and 11 hits in 4 1/3 innings in a 13-7 loss that was more of a blowout than the final score indicated.

Assad sounded unsure afterward about what exactly went wrong, stating multiple times he needed to watch video of his outing to dissect whether the issues stemmed from sequencing, location or pitch shape. He believed he threw some good pitches that the Phillies managed to make contact against.

“Every time you go out there, you try to battle, so today was a bad day,” Assad said through an interpreter. “It was just a bad day. It’s in the past, move forward.”

Manager Craig Counsell had to keep the rest of the series in mind with a taxed bullpen. He needed to get more outs from Assad as the fifth inning started to get away from the typically reliable right-hander. Six of the first seven Phillies hitters reached base to open the inning; the lone out came on a sacrifice fly.

“I just don’t think he got his sinker going and didn’t execute with his fastball,” Counsell said of Assad. “There were balls in the zone, but he needs to get them in good places. And he didn’t get the fastball and the sinker to good places.”

A still-manageable 4-2 deficit coming into the bottom of the fifth made the spiraling frame a tough blow to the Cubs, who were looking for a strong start to a challenging two-week stretch in their schedule. Right-hander Jacob Webb retired the two batters he faced to get out of the fifth, and with the Cubs trailing by seven runs, Counsell turned to left-hander Charlie Barnes to finish off the final three innings.

Barnes’ first big-league appearance since Oct. 3, 2021, with Minnesota didn’t go smoothly, either. Barnes, 30, surrendered four runs (three earned) on four hits, three walks and one hit batter.

Kyle Schwarber took Assad deep twice in the first and third innings to help the Phillies go up 4-0. Dansby Swanson’s two-run home run off Phillies left-hander Cristopher Sánchez to the opposite field cut into the lead. However, the Cubs couldn’t take advantage of the baserunners and pressure they created against the Phillies’ star pitcher (six hits and three walks allowed).

“You put some pressure on him, but the ball is just on the ground so much that he can get out of some trouble and he got out of trouble and gets two outs with one pitch multiple times tonight,” Counsell said of Sánchez. “So he’s tough, and I thought we did a pretty decent job with him. You’re only going to get so many chances against a guy like that.”

The Cubs (7-9) finished 4-for-16 with runners in scoring position and left 10 on base. They produced a five-run eighth inning, aided by multiple Phillies errors, but even that didn’t put much of a dent in the hole the Cubs put themselves in.

The Cubs aren’t worried about how the offensive group hasn’t fully clicked yet. Not even through the first month of the season, there remains plenty of confidence in the clubhouse that this is a talented team that will get in rhythm. At some point, though, they need more from their star players. The Cubs know that. Their offensive struggles become more exposed on nights like Monday when the Cubs can’t get a quality outing from their starting pitcher while the lineup faces one of the best starters in the game.

The rest of this series won’t get any easier as the Phillies send right-hander Aaron Nola and left-hander Jésus Luzardo to the mound in the next two games.

“I think if you look at just however many games in we are this year, when some of the circumstances and variables are kind of out of our hands in terms of weather and temperatures and winds and stuff like that, when they’re a little bit more favorable, we’ve done great as an offense,” Swanson said. “We’ve put pressure on teams, whether that’s via the walk or consistently hitting the ball hard, passing the baton to one another, even tonight being able to work (Sánchez’s) pitch count up and force them to use a couple extra bullpen arms, you can look at as a win.

“We haven’t obviously been able to consistently come up with a big hit, but guys are going up there with the right mentality and putting good swings on balls. It’s just a matter of time.”