PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Yan Gomes hit two home runs, Drew Smyly tossed six sharp innings and the Chicago Cubs completed a three-game sweep with a 4-3 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday.
Nelson Velázquez also went deep for the Cubs, who have won four in a row to pull within 19 games of .500. It was Chicago’s first three-game sweep in Philadelphia since July 25-27, 2000.
Garrett Stubbs homered for the Phillies, who failed to gain ground in the NL wild-card race against the lowly Cubs. Only the Reds, Athletics and Nationals entered the day with fewer wins than Chicago.
Gomes led off the third with the first of his two shots off Bailey Falter (0-3) to give Chicago a 1-0 lead. Christopher Morel’s RBI double — his NL rookie-leading 26th extra-base hit — made it 2-0.
In the fourth, Gomes connected for his sixth career multi-homer game with a drive to nearly the same spot in left field. And the Cubs pushed it to 4-0 when Velázquez drove Falter’s 75 mph curveball over the wall in left two batters later.
David Robertson pitched a scoreless ninth for his 14th save in 19 chances. Robertson had to wriggle out of a jam. With runners on first and second and one out, Didi Gregorius popped out to left and then Robertson struck out Stubbs swinging.
Velázquez came off the bench to hit two late home runs in Chicago’s win on Friday night, marking just the second time that’s happened to a Cubs player since at least 1901. The Cubs finished the series with eight home runs, in addition to 25 runs and 33 hits.
Smyly (3-5) allowed one earned run on four hits with four strikeouts and no walks.
The Phillies got on the board in the fifth when Bryson Stott broke up Smyly’s perfect game with a two-out double to left-center that just eluded the diving try of center fielder Morel and scored on Alec Bohm’s single to left.
Falter gave up four runs on five hits with five strikeouts and two walks in five innings.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Cubs: INF Nick Madrigal (left groin strain) was scheduled to continue his rehab assignment at Triple-A Iowa on Sunday. Madrigal has been out since June 12. … LHP Wade Miley (left shoulder strain) is slated to throw live batting practice on Monday. He hasn’t pitched since leaving his June 10 start after three innings.
Phillies: Thomson was optimistic that Jean Segura (broken right index finger) might return sooner than expected following his workout on Saturday. Segura, out since June 1 and eligible to return from the IL on Aug. 3, could begin a rehab assignment sometime this week.
UP NEXT
Cubs: Host the Pirates for two games beginning on Monday night, when Cubs RHP Adrian Sampson (0-1, 3.34) faces Pirates RHP JT Brubaker (2-8, 4.02).
Phillies: Start three-game series against Atlanta on Monday. Phillies LHP Ranger Suarez (7-5, 4.07) faces Braves LHP Max Fried (10-3, 2.64).
___
More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
