Phillies waste great opportunity and it gets only tougher from here

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The Phillies wasted a great opportunity against the wildest pitcher in baseball and lost another series because of it.

Cubs right-hander Tyler Chatwood walked seven — yes, seven — but the Phils mustered just one run off of him in 4⅔ innings.

After a controversial, three-run fifth inning for the Cubs involving Dylan Cozens and Andrew Knapp (see Cozens post), the Phillies were unable to come back against Chicago's bullpen in a 4-3 loss Thursday.

The Phillies' schedule gets no easier from here. Their next seven series and 22 games are against teams with winning records.

They head back home with a 32-28 record. There are 11 teams in the NL that are .500 or better, making this a precarious stretch of games.

Bad kind of history
Chatwood was the first pitcher since Chan Ho Park in 2000 to walk at least seven Phillies but not allow multiple runs. Good luck to the Cubs waiting out that three-year deal. Chatwood has walked 56 batters in 58⅓ innings which seems almost impossible. He has 17 more walks than any pitcher in baseball.

The Phils struggled with runners in scoring position all series, going 5 for 24.

Kingery comes through
Scott Kingery started again at shortstop despite J.P. Crawford's return to the starting lineup. Crawford played third base and was pulled in the fifth inning for Maikel Franco against a lefty with the bases loaded.

As for Kingery, he gave the Phils a fighting chance with a two-run double down the left-field line that made it a one-run game in the sixth.

Kingery had a good series, even if he didn't have a ton to show for it. In a four-at-bat span Tuesday and Wednesday, he had three lineouts and a deep flyout that the wind prevented from leaving the yard.

Poor Pivetta
Nick Pivetta didn't have a bad game, even though he allowed four runs in five innings. The Cozens-Knapp play hurt, and he was also a victim of bad luck in the first inning.

Albert Almora Jr. led off the game with a routine pop fly to shallow center. He slammed his bat in frustration. But Odubel Herrera lost it in the sun and it was ruled a double for some reason. The next batter, Tommy La Stella, hit a comebacker to the mound that Pivetta snared, but Andrew Knapp was called for catcher's interference. Instead of two outs, nobody on, the Cubs had two on with nobody out.

To Pivetta's credit, he geared up to retire Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo and Javier Baez from there.

Up next
The Phillies are back home to begin a six-game homestand.

They'll face the Brewers Friday through Sunday. Milwaukee leads the NL Central at 37-25 but has lost three in a row and four of five.

Friday — Vince Velasquez (4-6, 3.82) vs. Jhoulys Chacin (4-1, 3.39)

Saturday — Jake Arrieta (5-3, 2.66) vs. LHP Brent Suter (5-4, 4.55)

Sunday — Zach Eflin (2-2, 3.74) vs. TBA

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