Rizzo: 'It's the feeling you want after games'

CHICAGO -- There will be a time to unpack the impact that the Cubs' long losing streak had on the team's season and the direction the club might now be forced to take at the Trade Deadline.

For now, Chicago is just glad it's over.

“It feels really good,” Cubs manager David Ross said after his team’s 8-3 win over the Phillies on Wednesday night.

The victory snapped the Cubs’ 11-game losing streak, bringing an end to one of the longest skids in team history. Over the course of the drought, the North Siders rapidly slid from division leader with an eye on October to now a likely seller.

There will be no escaping that storyline in the days and weeks leading up to the July 30 Deadline, especially with Javier Báez, Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo and Craig Kimbrel among the dozen-plus players poised for free agency in the next two winters.

This could truly have been a franchise-altering losing streak.

The players are trying not to think about that just yet.

“I think we just go out and play tomorrow and try to get another win and get on a little streak here,” Rizzo said. “Finish the half, finish it as strong as we can. Everything that's going to be written is going to be written. And you guys are going to ask the questions and we're probably just going to dodge them and avoid them and say it's all rumors.

“You definitely hear it, but our job as baseball players -- and I think most of us in this clubhouse have been around long enough to know that -- you've just got to keep playing and whatever happens, happens.”

In the meantime, the Cubs will enjoy that “W” flag flying atop Wrigley Field’s old scoreboard for the first time since June 22. They will embrace getting to hear “Sweet Child O’ Mine” blasting as Kimbrel jogged in from the bullpen to record the night’s last three outs.

The Cubs will focus on how they went about finding the win column for the first time since the combined no-hitter against the Dodgers on June 24 in L.A. There was a solid start from Alec Mills, an early five-run push against Phillies righty Zack Wheeler and some strong baserunning and defense.

“I thought it was a really well-played baseball game by us,” Ross said.

Sitting in the dugout prior to Wednesday’s game, the Cubs manager listed a few keys for putting an end to all the losing:

“I think it starts with going out there and Millsy giving us a couple zeros, so we can get our feet under us and swing the bat well and play good defense.”

The Cubs followed that formula:

• Mills spun five shutout frames to open his outing before giving up three runs in a three-batter span in the sixth inning. Given that the rotation posted a 5.88 ERA in the previous 11 losses, the Cubs starter was given an ovation as he headed off after 5 2/3 innings.

• An offense that has been extremely reliant on home runs plated five runs on seven hits (including four RBI singles and an RBI triple by Rizzo) in the first two innings combined. Joc Pederson (RBI single) and Patrick Wisdom (two-run double) padded the lead in the sixth.

• Jason Heyward made a spectacular diving catch in the fifth inning. In the sixth, Pederson came up firing from left field and nabbed Alec Bohm at second, as the Phillies runner tried to take an extra 90 feet on an error by Wisdom at third base.

It all added up to the conclusion of the 11th losing streak of at least 11 games in franchise history.

“It feels great,” Mills said. “It's nice to have some music playing in the locker room after a game. Nice to give high fives -- that's for sure. A lot of that streak is just stuff not going our way.”

It had been the longest streak since the Cubs dropped 12 in a row in May of 2012, when the club was in the early stages of a rebuild. This skid might very well trigger the start of another transition period in the Cubs’ franchise timeline.

The first-place Brewers remain 8.5 games in front of Chicago in the National League Central and the Cubs’ postseason chances have taken a nosedive over the past two weeks.

There will be time to sort out what it all means for the Cubs’ present and future. The players will keep their sights on that “W” flag rippling in the Chicago wind for now.

“Yeah, it feels good,” Rizzo said. “We're at the highest level in this game and we're competitors. All of us compete at everything. So, anything, you lose 11 in a row, it just sucked. To win, it's just a good feeling.

“It's the feeling you want after games. It felt good with Craig coming in, hearing his walk-out music and getting a ‘W.’”