Happ slugs pair of 3-run homers as Cubs pound Phillies 10-2

CHICAGO (AP) — Ian Happ hit three-run homers from both sides of the plate for a career-high six RBIs, and the struggling Chicago Cubs pounded the major league-leading Philadelphia Phillies 10-2 to avoid a three-game sweep on Thursday.

The Cubs came into the season expecting to contend for the NL Central championship. Instead, they're last in the division. But they gave the Wrigley Field crowd of 40,143 plenty to cheer on July Fourth.

“We know how much this fan base expects and how much they deserve,” Happ said. “They come out every single day no matter what. They deserve a really good baseball team, and I think we all in this clubhouse believe that we have that in the tank. It’s been a tough stretch. But you have a game like today where you put up 10 and feel really good about it, let’s see if we can keep that rolling.”

Chicago trailed 2-0 when Happ connected from the right side against starter Cristopher Sánchez during a five-run fourth inning. Happ struck again batting left-handed in the fifth against Seranthony Domínguez, making it 8-2 and giving him 14 career multi-homer games.

It was the second time Happ went deep from both sides of the plate. He also singled and doubled to finish 4 for 4.

Happ got off to a slow start this season. But over 35 games since May 26, he is second in the majors with 36 RBIs.

“You're going to have times when things don't feel right," he said. “When the wind's blowing in, you're hitting things straight into the wind or you're striking out. Part of that is believing that you're going to hit one of those hot streaks and get back on track. For me personally, that was early in the year. The first six weeks were a struggle and really difficult and challenging, and believing that I was going to get to that place where I right the ship.”

Jameson Taillon (5-4) pitched seven innings, allowing two runs and four hits. The right-hander struck out seven and walked none.

Seiya Suzuki scored three times and the Cubs came away with an easy win after dropping eight of 10. They also stopped a seven-game losing streak against the Phillies dating to last season.

Philadelphia’s Brandon Marsh singled home a run in the first. Nick Castellanos made it 2-0 in the fourth with a rocket to left-center for his 12th home run, but Sánchez (6-4) simply didn’t have it coming off a shutout against Miami last week and his first career complete game.

The left-hander got tagged for seven runs and seven hits after going 3-0 with a 0.39 ERA in his previous three starts. He exited with none out in the fifth after Cody Bellinger and Suzuki singled.

Happ broke open the game when he greeted Domínguez with a drive to right for his 13th homer. He became the first Cubs player to connect from both sides since Victor Caratini in a loss at Pittsburgh on July 3, 2019.

“Ian had some huge swings,” manager Craig Counsell said. “We got men on base in front of him for those swings. Two three-run homers puts a smile on everybody's face, for sure.”

TRAINER'S ROOM

Cubs: RHP Mark Leiter Jr. (strained forearm) will likely face hitters within the next few days, assuming no setbacks following his bullpen session on Wednesday, pitching coach Tommy Hottovy said. Hottovy had not spoken to Leiter. ... Hottovy said RHP Yency Almonte (strained right shoulder) will probably decide “in the next day or so” between surgery or a strengthening program. Almonte has been out since May 7.

UP NEXT

Phillies: RHP Aaron Nola (9-4, 3.43 ERA) gets the ball Friday as the Phillies open a three-game series at Atlanta, while the Braves go with LHP Max Fried (7-3, 2.91). Nola is coming off a loss to Miami in which he gave up three runs in 6 2/3 innings. Fried has a 1.56 ERA in his past three starts.

Cubs: Open a three-game series against the Los Angeles Angels, with LHP Justin Steele (0-3, 3.20 ERA) starting for Chicago. Steele went six innings and allowed three runs in the Cubs' win at Milwaukee on Saturday.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

Chicago Cubs' Ian Happ,, right, slides toward home plate before being tagged out by Philadelphia Phillies catcher Garrett Stubbs, left, during the seventh inning of a baseball game Thursday, July 4, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty)

Chicago Cubs' Seiya Suzuki watches his single during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies, Thursday, July 4, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty)

Chicago Cubs' Patrick Wisdom, right, runs to first as Philadelphia Phillies catcher Garrett Stubbs, left, runs down a ground ball before throwing him out at first during the fourth inning of a baseball game Thursday, July 4, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty)

Philadelphia Phillies' Trea Turner (7) celebrates with manager Rob Thomson, third from left, at the dugout after scoring on a Brandon Marsh single during the first inning of a baseball game against the Chicago Cubs, Thursday, July 4, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty)

Philadelphia Phillies' Trea Turner (7) slides into home plate safely on a Brandon Marsh single while Chicago Cubs catcher Tomas Nido left, tries to apply the tag during the first inning of a baseball game Thursday, July 4, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty)

Helicopters fly over Wrigley Field during a Fourth of July tribute before a baseball game between the Chicago Cubs and Philadelphia Phillies Thursday, July 4, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty)

Philadelphia Phillies starter Cristopher Sanchez delivers a pitch during the first inning of a baseball game against the Chicago Cubs Thursday, July 4, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty)

Chicago Cubs starter Jameson Taillon delivers a pitch during the first inning of a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies Thursday, July 4, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty)

Chicago Cubs' Ian Happ (8) celebrates with manager Craig Counsell, center right, at the dugout after hitting a three-run home run during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies, Thursday, July 4, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty)

Chicago Cubs' Ian Happ, second from right, celebrates with teammates Seiya Suzuki (27) and Cody Bellinger, back left, at home plate after hitting a three-run home run during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies, Thursday, July 4, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty)

Chicago Cubs' Ian Happ watches his three-run home run during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies, Thursday, July 4, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty)

Chicago Cubs' Ian Happ watches his three-run home run during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies, Thursday, July 4, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty)

PARIS (AP) — Photos of blood-red hands on a Holocaust memorial. Caskets at the Eiffel Tower. A fake French military recruitment drive calling for soldiers in Ukraine, and major French news sites improbably registered in an obscure Pacific territory, population 15,000.

All are part of disinformation campaigns orchestrated out of Russia and targeting France, according to French officials and cybersecurity experts in Europe and the United States. France’s legislative elections and the Paris Olympics sent them into overdrive.

More than a dozen reports issued in the past year point to an intensifying effort from Russia to undermine France, particularly the upcoming Games, and President Emmanuel Macron, who is one of Ukraine's most vocal supporters in Europe.

This story, supported by the Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting, is part of an Associated Press series covering threats to democracy in Europe.

The Russian campaigns sowing anti-French disinformation began online in early summer 2023, but first became tangible in October, when more than 1,000 bots linked to Russia relayed photos of graffitied Stars of David in Paris and its suburbs.

A French intelligence report said the Russian intelligence agency FSB ordered the tagging, as well as subsequent vandalism of a memorial to those who helped rescue Jews from the Holocaust.

Photos from each event were amplified on social media by fake accounts linked to the Russian disinformation site RRN, according to cybersecurity experts. Russia denies any such campaigns. The French intelligence report says RRN is part of a larger operation orchestrated by Sergei Kiriyenko, a ranking Kremlin official.

“You have to see this as an ecosystem,” said a French military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to reveal information about the Russian effort. “It’s a hybrid strategy.”

The tags and the vandalism had no direct link to Russia's war in Ukraine, but they provoked a strong reaction from the French political class, with denunciations in the legislature and public debate. Antisemitic attacks are on the rise in France, and the war in Gaza has proven divisive.

The Stars of David could be interpreted either as support for Israel or as opposition. The effect was to sow division and unease. French Jews in particular have found themselves unwittingly thrust into the political fray despite, at just 500,000 people, making up a small proportion of the French population.

In March, just after Macron discussed the possibility of mobilizing the French military in Ukraine, a fake recruitment drive went up for the French army in Ukraine, spawning a series of posts in Russian- and French-language Telegram channels that got picked up in Russian and Belarusian media, according to a separate French government report seen by The Associated Press. On June 1, caskets appeared outside the Eiffel Tower, bearing the inscription “French soldiers in Ukraine.”

The larger disinformation efforts show little traction in France, but the Russian audience may have been the real target, officials said, by showing that Russia’s war in Ukraine is, as Putin has said, really a war with the West.

Among the broader goals, the French military official said, was a long-term and steady effort to sow social discord, erode faith in the media and democratic governments, undermine NATO, and sap Western support for Ukraine. Denigrating the Olympics, from which most Russian athletes are banned, is a bonus, according to French officials monitoring the increasingly strident posts warning of imminent unrest ahead of the Games.

On June 9, the French far-right National Rally trounced Macron’s party in elections for the European Parliament. The party has historically been close to Russia: One of its leading figures, Marine Le Pen, cultivated ties to Putin for many years and supported Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. And its leading contender for prime minister, Jordan Bardella, has said he opposes sending long-range weapons to Kyiv.

In more than 4,400 posts gathered since mid-November by antibot4navalny, a collective that analyzes Russian bot behavior, those targeting audiences in France and Germany predominated. The number of weekly posts ranged from 100 to 200 except for the week of May 5, when it dropped near zero, the data showed. That week, as it happens, was a holiday in Russia.

Many of the posts redirect either to RRN or to sites that appear identical to major French media, but with the domain — and content — changed. At least two of the more recent mirrored sites are registered in Wallis and Futuna, a French Pacific territory 10 time zones from Paris. A click on the top of the fake page redirects back to the real news sites themselves to give the impression of authenticity. Other posts redirect to original sites controlled by the the campaign itself, dubbed Doppelganger.

The redirects shifted focus for the European elections and continued after Macron called the surprise legislative elections with just three weeks to spare. Three-quarters of posts from the week ahead of the June 30 first-round legislative vote that were directed toward a French audience focused on either criticizing Macron or boosting the National Rally, antibot4navalny found in data shared with The Associated Press.

One post on a fake site purported to be from Le Point, a current affairs magazine, and the French news agency AFP, criticizing Macron.

“Our leaders have no idea how ordinary French people live but are ready to destroy France in the name of aid for Ukraine,” read the headline on June 25.

Another site falsely claimed to be from Macron’s party, offering to pay 100 euros for a vote for him — and linking back to the party's true website. And still another inadvertently left a generative artificial intelligence prompt calling for the re-write of an article “taking a conservative stance against the liberal policies of the Macron administration,” according to findings last week from Insikt Group, the threat research division of the cybersecurity consultancy Recorded Future.

“They’re scraping automatically, sending the text to the AI and asking the AI to introduce bias or slants into the article and rewrite it,” said Clément Briens, an analyst for Recorded Future.

Briens said metrics tools embedded within the site are likely intended to prove that the campaigns were money well-spent for “whoever is doing the payouts for these operations.”

The French government cybersecurity watchdog, Viginum, has published multiple reports since June 2023 singling out Russian efforts to sow divisions in France and elsewhere. That was around the time that pro-Kremlin Telegram feeds started promoting “Olympics has Fallen” — a full-length fake Netflix film featuring an AI-generated voice resembling Tom Cruise that criticized the International Olympic Committee, according to the Microsoft Threat Analysis Center.

Microsoft said this campaign, which it dubbed Storm-1679, is fanning fears of violence at the Games and last fall disseminated digitally generated photos referring, among other things, to the attacks on Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics.

The latest effort, which started just after the first round of the elections on June 30, merges fears of violence related to both the Olympics and the risk of protests after the decisive second round, antibot4navalny found. Viginum released a new report Tuesday detailing the risks ahead for the Games — not for violence but for disinformation.

“Digital information manipulation campaigns have become a veritable instrument of destabilization of democracies,” Viginum said. “This global event will give untold informational exposure to malevolant foreign actors.” The word Russia appears nowhere.

Baptiste Robert, a French cybersecurity expert who ran unsuccessfully as an unaffiliated centrist in the legislative elections, called on his government — and especially lawmakers — to prepare for the digital threats to come.

“This is a global policy of Russia: They really want to push people into the extremes,” he said before the first-round vote. “It’s working perfectly right now.”

FILE - The website of the Telegram messaging app is seen on a computer's screen in Moscow, Russia, Friday, April 13, 2018. Cybersecurity experts and French officials say Russian disinformation campaigns against France are zeroing in on legislative elections and the Olympic Games which open in Paris at the end of the month. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)

FILE - A man walks by Stars of David tagged on a wall in Paris, on Oct. 31, 2023. France says it has been the target of a Russian online destabilization campaign that used bots to whip up controversy and confusion about spray-painted Stars of David that appeared on Paris streets. French government officials accused Russia of operating a long-running online manipulation campaign against Ukraine's Western backers. (AP Photo/Michel Euler, File)

FILE - Far-right National Rally party president Jordan Bardella delivers his speech after the first round vote of the legislative election in Paris, Sunday, June 30, 2024. Bardella has said he opposes sending long-range weapons to Kyiv. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard, File)

FILE - Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, shakes hands with French far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen, in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Friday, March 24, 2017. On June 9, the French far-right National Rally trounced Macron’s party in elections for the European Parliament. The party has historically been close to Russia: one of its leading figures, Marine Le Pen, cultivated ties to Putin for many years and supported Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. (Mikhail Klimentyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)

FILE - Voters wait at a polling station to vote in the first round of the French parliamentary election, in Lyon, central France, Sunday, June 30, 2024. Voters across mainland France are casting ballots in the first round of an exceptional parliamentary election. Cybersecurity experts and French officials say Russian disinformation campaigns against France are zeroing in on legislative elections and the Olympic Games which open in Paris at the end of the month. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani, File)

FILE - People use their smartphones near the Olympic rings that are displayed on the Eiffel Tower in Paris, June 7, 2024 in Paris. Cybersecurity experts and French officials say Russian disinformation campaigns against France are zeroing in on legislative elections and the Olympic Games which open in Paris at the end of the month. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard, File)