Ben Brown, Cubs ride momentum into finale vs. Phillies

Ben Brown and Jesus Luzardo are trending in different directions heading into the Wednesday matchup between the visiting Chicago Cubs and the Philadelphia Phillies.

Chicago's Brown (3-4, 5.37 ERA) lowered his ERA by more than a run over his past two outings. He gave up a total of two runs in 13 innings, including a crisp performance Friday against the Tigers.

Brown allowed two runs and struck out seven in seven innings at Detroit. He competed fiercely against reigning American League Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal before ending up with a tough-luck loss.

"Ben can go toe to toe stuff-wise with anybody," Cubs manager Craig Counsell said of the 25-year-old right-hander. "I think he showed that (Friday) night. That was Ben's best fastball of the year."

Brown faced the Phillies on April 26, when he gave up six runs in 3 2/3 innings in a 10-4 defeat. That is his only career appearance against Philadelphia, which originally drafted him in 2017 before dealing him to Chicago in 2022.

Luzardo (5-2, 4.46) has watched his ERA more than double in his past two outings. He gave up a career-high 12 runs in 3 1/3 innings against the Milwaukee Brewers on May 31 before surrendering eight runs in 2 1/3 frames on Thursday against the Toronto Blue Jays.

"There's something obvious that we're missing," Luzardo said. "The first 11 starts are lights out, and then the next two are 20 earned runs. There's gotta be something that we can find and fix and make that change. It has to happen fast."

Luzardo opposed Brown in the April 26 contest. He gave up two runs -- both unearned -- in six innings to improve to 3-0 with a 2.43 ERA in six lifetime starts against the Cubs.

Chicago enters the rubber match of the three-game series on Wednesday with a bit of momentum after homering four times in an 8-4 triumph on Tuesday. Ian Happ hit two of those home runs -- in addition to socking one on Monday in the Cubs' series-opening loss -- and now has more home runs on this road trip (four) than he had entering the trek (three).

Additionally, the Cubs' bullpen came up big on Tuesday with 4 2/3 scoreless innings, giving the offense a chance to regain the lead and ultimately pull away from the Phillies.

"It's huge," Happ said. "You look at a game like today, (starter Colin Rea) comes out of the game and they just lock it down. They don't give up any more runs. They give us a chance to add on and be up four, and save our back-end guys for (Wednesday), too. It's huge."

Dansby Swanson and Michael Busch also homered for Chicago, which had lost four of its previous six games. The Phillies, meanwhile, have dropped 10 of their past 12.

Several Philadelphia players are struggling at the plate, including Kyle Schwarber, who is 4-for-35 (.114) with 17 strikeouts this month. The team lacks power with Schwarber struggling and Bryce Harper (wrist) sidelined.

"I think (the power) will come," manager Rob Thomson said. "We're just going through a stretch where we're not getting the ball in the air and getting it into the gaps. It'll come. There's more power in this lineup than what we're showing right now."