Chicago Cubs’ Javier Assad gets roughed up by Philadelphia Phillies in 13-7 loss
PHILADELPHIA — Over the course of a 162-game season, there are days when the starting pitcher needs to stay in and provide innings during a rough outing. It was Chicago Cubs right-hander Javier Assad’s night to wear it Monday at Citizens Bank Park. The Philadelphia Phillies tagged Assad for nine runs and 11 hits in 4 1/3 innings in a 13-7 loss that was more of a blowout than the final score indicated.
Assad sounded unsure afterward about what exactly went wrong, stating multiple times he needed to watch video of his outing to dissect whether the issues stemmed from sequencing, location or pitch shape. He believed he threw some good pitches that the Phillies managed to make contact against. “Every time you go out there, you try to battle, so today was a bad day,” Assad said through an interpreter.
“It was just a bad day. It’s in the past, move forward. ” Manager Craig Counsell had to keep the rest of the series in mind with a taxed bullpen .
He needed to get more outs from Assad as the fifth inning started to get away from the typically reliable right-hander. Six of the first seven Phillies hitters reached base to open the inning; the lone out came on a sacrifice fly. “I just don’t think he got his sinker going and didn’t execute with his fastball,” Counsell said of Assad.
“There were balls in the zone, but he needs to get them in good places. And he didn’t get the fastball and the sinker to good places. ” A still-manageable 4-2 deficit coming into the bottom of the fifth made the spiraling frame a tough blow to the Cubs, who were looking for a strong start to a challenging two-week stretch in their schedule.
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