PHILADELPHIA — Paul Maholm pitched 6 1-3 solid innings, Starlin Castro had two hits and an RBI, and the Cubs beat the Philadelphia Phillies 5-1 Friday night.Maholm (2-2) allowed a run on five hits with a strikeout and no walks, dropping his ERA from 8.36 to 6.20. And the speedy Campana had two hits on balls that didn’t leave the infield and scored twice for the Cubs.
“He had really good command of his fastball, but the biggest thing was when he needed the curveball he really had it,” Cubs manager Dale Sveum said of Maholm. “He did a great job.”
A left-hander who doesn’t overpower hitters, Maholm worked out of a first-and-third, no-out jam in the first inning and cruised from there.Ty Wigginton homered for Philadelphia, which has scored two runs or less in 11 of 20 games this season.Halladay (3-2) was unhittable at the start, retiring 10 straight batters with four strikeouts, but surrendered three runs on six hits in a three-inning stretch to fall to 1-5 lifetime against the Cubs. He allowed three runs on six hits with five strikeouts and two walks.Rafael Dolis pitched two scoreless innings for his first major-league save.The Cubs took a 1-0 lead in the fourth. Campana led off and got the Cubs’ first hit on a bunt, sliding safely into first and just beating the tag of Wigginton. After stealing second, Campana scored on Castro’s bloop single to center.
“That’s obviously a specialty,” Halladay said of Campana’s speed. “You just hope he hits the ball in the air somewhere and they catch it.”
The Cubs scored two more runs in the sixth on RBIs by Alfonso Soriano and Ian Stewart. Chicago went ahead 2-0 on Soriano’s single to left that scored Campana, who led off with his second straight infield single. Stewart doubled to right to drive home Bryan LaHair, who had singled, for a 3-0 cushion.The inning ended with a blunder by Soriano, who was caught flat-footed in between third and home on Darwin Barney’s groundout that resulted in a rare 1-3-2 double play.But the three-run lead was more than enough for Maholm.
“I just went in knowing that I had to throw well because obviously [Halladay’s] not going to give up a ton,” Maholm said.
The Phillies’ offense, still missing injured All-Stars Chase Utley (knee) and Ryan Howard (Achilles’), didn’t resemble the unit that tallied 20 runs while winning two of three at the Diamondbacks in their last series.Halladay said that, regardless of the offensive output, he wouldn’t be affected.After Carlos Ruiz’s second-inning double, Maholm retired 15 of the next 16 batters before Wigginton’s homer to left with one out in the seventh. That hit ended the night for Maholm.Philadelphia threatened to score more in the seventh off left-handed reliever James Russell after putting runners on first and second with a pair of infield hits, but Soriano caught Juan Pierre’s drive to left after initially misplaying the ball for the final out.Howard was examined by a doctor on Friday and said after the game that he hopes to begin baseball activities Sunday in Clearwater, Fla. He said there was no timetable on a possible return to the Phillies lineup.
NOTES—SS Jimmy Rollins went 0 for 4 for Philadelphia and has three hits in his last 37 at-bats…..Wigginton extended his hitting streak to 12 games with a fourth-inning single…..Despite many empty seats on a chilly, windy night, the Phillies announced their 211th straight regular-season sellout with a crowd of 45,261…..Campana has five steals in his last four games…..Randy Wells(0-0, 3.60) opposes Philadelphia RHP Joe Blanton (1-3, 4.34) Saturday night in the second game of the four-game series.