The Chicago Cubs take aim at their second series win of the season when they close out a four-game set tonight against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park.
Matt Garza pitched the Cubs to a 5-1 victory on Sunday by tossing seven shutout innings with 10 strikeouts and only one walk. Garza allowed just one hit, a single by Jimmy Rollins to start the bottom half of the first inning. Rafael Dolis pitched a scoreless eighth and Carlos Marmol allowed a run in the ninth before closing out the game.
"I just stuck to my game plan of keeping them off balance and just tried to induce weak ground balls and weak pop ups," said Garza.
Starlin Castro drove in two runs and Bryan LaHair had three hits, including two doubles, and scored twice for the Cubs, who have won four of their last six games.
Chicago will send Chris Volstad to the mound for Monday's series finale and he is winless (0-3) in four starts this season. Volstad last pitched in a 5-1 loss to St. Louis last Wednesday and allowed four runs in six innings. The right-hander has made 12 career starts against the Phillies, going 2-5 with a 5.88 earned run average.
The Cubs will visit Cincinnati for three games after this series.
Philadelphia's offensive woes continued in Sunday's setback, as Rollins and Hinter Pence accounted for the club's two hits.
Phillies starter Kyle Kendrick was saddled with the loss and yielded three runs -- two earned -- and five hits through six innings. David Herndon gave up two more runs in two innings of relief.
"You're gonna hit a stretch like this where you're going to have to answer questions about not scoring runs," said Phillies outfielder Juan Pierre. "Every team I've been on, these questions are nothing new. I think a lot of guys have been through it enough where you just can't panic."
The Phillies are counting on Vance Worley to earn a split of this series when he takes the mound tonight. Worley has won back-to-back starts and previously pitched in last Tuesday's 8-5 victory at Arizona. He tossed six innings of one-run ball and struck out six batters to improve to 2-1 in four starts to go along with a 2.76 ERA.
Worley, a right-hander, defeated the Cubs the only time he faced them last July 20 at Wrigley Field. He gave up one run in eight innings of a 9-1 win.
Philadelphia will hit the road for six games against the Braves and Nationals after hosting the Cubs.
Since 2002, the Phils are 21-12 versus the Cubs at home.
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