The reign of the Chicago Cubs continues over the Colorado Rockies. They have now won six straight against the Rockies and have won 12 of the last 14 contests. While there was certainly some solid pitching on both sides, the Cubs’ offense managed to string together more hits, taking a 4-3 victory.
The McCade Brown Tightrope Act
It wasn’t the ideal first start at Coors Field for rookie McCade Brown. He labored through four innings, throwing 84 total pitches on the night.
He was playing traffic controller about as much as he was a pitcher
in his outing. In the first inning, he threw about 26 pitches but managed to escape with runners on the corners and just one run allowed. In the second inning, he again dealt with a lot of traffic but managed to escape a bases-loaded situation to prevent a run from scoring.
Brown then seemed to settle in with some quicker third and fourth innings thanks to the ground ball, but his luck would finally run out in the fifth.
Kyle Tucker led off with a double, Seiya Suzuki drew a walk, and then Ian Happ belted an RBI double to give the Cubs a 2-1 lead and knock Brown out of the game. He ended up going just four innings, allowing three runs on five hits with three walks and three strikeouts.
The Human Glitch trick
Much can be said about how wonderful Jimmy Herget has been for the Rockies, and Saturday was no different. He entered that fifth inning for Brown with two in scoring position and no outs. One run came in to score on a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded, but Herget managed to induce a weak infield pop-up and another fly out to escape the inning.
The Cubs tacked on another against Herget in the sixth after Michael Busch hit a triple and came in to score on Tucker’s RBI single. They again managed to load the bases, but Herget managed to induce an inning-ending double play to end the inning
Warming the cold streak
After winning the National League Player of the Week award in his first week in the big leagues, Warming Bernabel has struggled as the league has adapted to him. However, one hit may just be enough to get him back on the right track.
There was a massive sigh of relief for Bernabel on the night. Entering the game, the young first baseman was enduring a 0-for-26 stretch at the plate. During his first at-bat in the bottom of the second, he fouled a ball off his left knee and seemed to be in quite a bit of pain. He recovered and ended up singling into left field to snap the hitless streak. He stayed in to run the bases and came around to score, but was replaced by Orlando Arcia in the top of the fourth inning.
After winning the National League Player of the Week award after his first week in the big leagues, Bernabel has struggled as the league has adapted to him. However, one hit may just be enough to get him back on the right track.
Not enough offense, again
It was another slow night offensively for the Rockies despite not being all that terrible.
As a team, they only struck out four times and had two walks; the main issue was that they just didn’t have enough base runners and scoring opportunities. They had seven hits on the night, but not a single one after the sixth inning.
The Rockies tied the game 1-1 in the second inning after Bernabel’s hit, as he eventually came around to score on a single by Yanquiel Fernández that included some baserunning schenanigans.
They would get back within one run in the bottom of the sixth after Tyler Freeman reached and came in to score on Mickey Moniak’s seventh triple of the season. Hunter Goodman then drove in Moniak with a sacrifice fly to make it 4-3 where the game would stand.
The Rockies ended up hitting into nine ground balls against Assad, and five more against the bullpen.
A small village
Colorado’s pitching staff avoided plenty of damage against the Cubs despite the traffic, stranding 11 men on base. The 1-through-4 hitters had eight of the Cubs’ nine hits. The bottom half wasn’t able to produce much, but they did draw six walks on the night and went 3-for-9 with runners in scoring position.
At least Swason was held in check and Pete Crow-Armstrong is now 3-for-39 against the Rockies.
Up Next
The series finale will feature the seasoned veteran Matthew Boyd (12-7, 2.82 ERA) for the Cubs. Normally, that would be terrifying by the Rockies will have the new-age dragon slayer Tanner Gordon (5-5, 6.44 ERA) looking to take down another giant of the pitching realm.
First pitch is scheduled for 1:10 p.m. MDT.
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