Vance Worley once again dazzled the opposition, Jimmy Rollins had himself a day, and the Phillies put a hurtin' on the Cubs to take the third game in the series in Chicago by a score of 9-1, en route to their 61st win of the season.
After breaking out the bats to rally late during Wednesday night's game, the Phillies got right back on the hitting horse and went to work on Cubs starter Ryan Dempster early and often, as they made it an easy afternoon in support of Worley, who won his sixth game of the season.
The Phils hitting parade started right out of the gate with a pair of runs in the first inning, coming on an RBI single from Ryan Howard and an RBI groundout from the recently activated Shane Victorino to give them an early two-run lead.
Their hot hitting continued in the second, when they strung together four straight hits -- three doubles -- with two outs to put up three more runs, with RBIs coming from Jimmy Rollins, Michael Martinez and Chase Utley. They would add another run in the third on an RBI double from Brian Schneider, as well as another in the fourth, when Utley added his second RBI double of the day, to put the Phils up by seven.
It would be more than enough, but the Phils added two more runs on the day, thanks to Jimmy Rollins, who capped off his big day at the dish with a solo homer in both the sixth and eighth innings -- each from a different side of the plate.
Meanwhile, Worley was carving up the Cubbies, and even held them hitless over the first five innings. He eventually allowed a run in the bottom of the seventh, which would be his only earned run over a career-high eight innings of work, where he allowed one run, four hits and two walks, while striking out seven. Over his last six starts, the rookie right hander is 4-0 with a 0.93 ERA.
After Roy Halladay kicked off this series with a very rough, heat-hampered start on Monday, the Phils turned it around by breaking out the bats and arms, as was to be expected from the best team in the majors.
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They'll take that MLB-best 61-36 record back home for a 10-game home stand on Friday, starting with four against San Diego. They will send Cole Hamels (11-5, 2.71) to the hill to take on Cory Luebke (3-3, 2.57) Friday night.
