In the end, this one is all on Carlos Zambrano. Zambrano recorded one of his worst starts of the season on Friday against Philadelphia, throwing just 6.1 innings while giving up seven runs on seven hits. He issued seven walks and struck out five on the night.
Four of those runs came in the bottom of the seventh inning, when Zambrano gave up a grand slam home run to to Placido Polanco. Given the way Roy Hallday had pitched up to that point — seven shutout innings on six hits, no walks, and nine strikeouts — it seemed like it was the nail in the coffin for the Cubs.
The Cubs did manage to claw themselves back into the game thanks to the Phillies bullpen, however. Jose Contreras and J.C. Romero got touched for five earned runs between them, and the Cubs had chances in both the eighth and ninth innings to tie the game.
Poor base running and a lack of a clutch hit did them in, however, and they once again failed to win three games in a row. The team is currently the only major league franchise to be without a three game win streak on the year.
The third game of the four game set will be on Saturday. First pitch is at 3:10 P.M., CDT.