Kyle Schwarber and Aaron Nola lead the way as Phillies bounce back to slam Cubs, 12-3

The Phillies needed this.

Following a flat performance on Friday, a six-run first inning propelled a 12-3 victory over the Chicago Cubs and snapped a five-game losing skid.

The win also snapped a seven-game losing streak against the Cubs.

It started with a commanding first-inning start from Aaron Nola, who retired the first three batters he faced and had two strikeouts on his first eight pitches.

With the momentum on their side, the Phillies went on a scoring barrage.

After Bryson Stott, Nick Castellanos, and Bryce Harper all reached base and J.T. Realmuto popped out, Kyle Schwarber unloaded on Cubs starter Jameson Taillon with a 435-foot grand slam into the second deck in right field.

But it didn’t stop there. After Alec Bohm reached on an error by Cubs third baseman Patrick Wisdom, Brandon Marsh struck out looking but Kody Clemens picked him up.

Clemens hit a 401-foot home run to center field for a 6-0 lead. Clemens has hit a home run in four of his last 11 games.

“It’s good to get some early runs,” Schwarber said. “Give [Nola] a little pad there, and he was able to take advantage of it. There are going to be stretches throughout the course of this year that we’re going to have games like today ... I’m sure there will be more times throughout the course of this year. We hope not, but it’s just baseball, where we might not put up any runs. Our job every single day is to come in and be prepared.”

On Friday, the Phillies managed just one run on three hits. They saw only three opportunities to score with runners in scoring position and didn’t capitalize on any of them. That wasn’t the case Saturday. Each player in the lineup saw action during their at-bats. Collectively, the Phillies finished with 13 hits, 12 runs, 11 RBIs, and eight strikeouts.

Taillon, whom the Phillies considered during free agency as a mid-rotation starter but instead signed Taijuan Walker, threw 62 pitches in 2⅓ innings, allowing six hits, eight runs, and two home runs.

Michael Rucker entered with the bases loaded. Edmundo Sosa hit an RBI single, scoring Schwarber. Stott hit a sacrifice fly to center fielder Christopher Morel and extended the Phillies’ lead to 8-0 with Bohm scoring.

“We had great at-bats today,” manager Rob Thomson said. “We just kept adding on. I thought we had great at-bats all day long. It was a really good team win in every phase ... we were grinding.”

In the fifth inning, Clemens reached on a line drive off Rucker’s buttock and Sosa singled him to third. Clemens scored on a Stott groundout. After Castellanos lined out to center, Harper drove in Sosa when he stretched a hit to right field into a double.

Garrett Stubbs even saw some action. After taking over for Realmuto in the eighth inning, Stubbs slammed a triple off a 97.5 mph fastball to right field and scored moments later off a wild pitch to Dalton Guthrie.

Phillies starters have gone just two or fewer innings in three of the last four games. Nola broke that streak with a top-notch performance.

He commanded the strike zone and maintained a 92-94 mph velocity with 10 strikeouts, and allowed four hits, two earned runs, and one homer in seven innings on 98 pitches.

“That was vintage there,” Thomson said of Nola’s performance. “All his pitches were good. He got ahead and just attacked. He saved us a couple of times. We had almost a full bullpen today, but that really makes us stronger tomorrow.”

Nola allowed a two-run homer by Dansby Swanson in the sixth off an 84.8 mph cutter. However, Nola struck out the next two hitters.

He was relieved by Connor Brogdon, who also allowed a home run in the eighth inning. Yunior Marte closed out the win for the Phillies with a scoreless ninth inning.