Pinch hitter Cody Asche hit the right-field foul pole for a walk-off home run that lifted the Philadelphia Phillies (55-88) to a 7-5 victory over the Chicago Cubs (82-59) Saturday night at Citizens Bank Park.
With the scored tied at 5-5, Asche hit the first pitch he saw from Hector Rondon high off the pole for a game-winning two-run blast (8).
Erik Kratz drew a two-out walk to bring Asche to the plate, and he also scored on the blast.
The game was a pitchers' duel until two outs in the bottom of the seventh. Anthony Rizzo's error with a man on first then opened the door to a five-run inning that put the Phillies ahead 5-1 (video).
Following the error, Ryan Howard tied the game with an RBI double. Brian Bogusevic walked to load the bases, and Darnell Sweeney followed with a walk that brought home Howard. Cesar Hernandez then laced a bases-clearing double to complete the scoring.
All five runs were unearned and charged to Justin Grimm, who could not get out of the inning following Rizzo's error.
The Cubs fought back to tie the game with a four-run top of the eighth. Chris Coghlan doubled home two (video), Kris Bryant doubled home Coghlan (video), and Miguel Montero drove home Rizzo (hit by pitch) with a sacrifice fly to tie the game.
Lost in the mix was Kyle Schwarber's solo home run (16) in the top of the third that accounted for all the scoring until the seventh.
Schwarber now has 16 home runs and 42 RBI in his first 52 Major League games.
Ken Giles (W: 6-2, 1.45 ERA) benefited from Asche's herorics by pitching a scoreless ninth in which he walked one and struck out two. Phillies starter Jerad Eickhoff pitched seven very strong innings, allowing one run on only three hits. He walked three, fanned eight, and served up Schwarber's home run.
Rondon (L: 5-4, 1.70) served up Asche's walk-off home run after getting the first two men out and walking one in the ninth. Cubs starter Travis Wood, who moved to the bullpen earlier in the season, pitched three scoreless innings (three hits), and Trevor Cahil followed with three hitless and scoreless innings. Grimm was charged with a blown save (3).
The Cubs dropped a game in the wild card standings to the Pittsburgh Pirates, who won big Saturday night. However, because the St. Louis Cardinals lost twice (including a completion of Friday's game), the Cubs picked up a half game in the division. The Cubs now trail Pittsburgh by three games and St. Louis by 5.5.
On Sunday, the Cubs will pitch Dan Haren (9-9, 3.73) while Philadelphia will counter with Aaron Harang (5-15, 5.02). The first pitch is scheduled for 1:35 p.m. EDT.