It was fright night at Wrigley Field for the Phillies Tuesday night.
Not only did Philly lose its seventh straight game in a 7-4 loss to the Cubs, but the team was spooked by a rat that ran in front of the visitors’ dugout Tuesday night. It caused a couple of of Phillies to jump back in fear as the rodent scurried by, as seen in video shared by WGN reporter Marcus Leshock.
The rat was sitting on a Cubs ball bag near the Phillies dugout before darting up the first base side and hiding behind the rolled-up tarp.
It’s unlikely the Wrigley Rat reaches the Shea Stadium Black Cat lore, but the Phillies (8-15) have been in a tailspin over the last week. They’re fortunate the Mets (7-16) have been so awful — blowing a 3-0 lead to the Twins Tuesday en route to their 12th straight loss — otherwise they’d be in last place in the NL East.
The Phillies are hitting just .218, tied for the second-worst mark in MLB, and their 80 runs scored are third-fewest in baseball; the Mets are in last with 75 runs.
Things haven’t gone much better on the mound, where Philly pitchers have a 4.99 ERA, third-worst in MLB.
The big culprit on Tuesday was a bullpen that allowed six runs after starter Jesus Luzardo gave up one run in 4 ⅔ innings.
After the Phillies tied the game 1-1 in the top of the sixth, Tanner Banks coughed up two runs in the bottom half. Tim Mayza then surrendered two home runs in the seventh and Jose Alvarado gave up a run in the eighth, ballooning his ERA to 9.82.
The Mets and Phillies don’t play each other until June 18.
