This was a game that was initially defined by excellent pitching, but the bats came alive for Colorado in the final two innings, resulting in a 3-2 walk-off victory over the Chicago Cubs.
The Rockies have secured the series victory and improved to 26-42 on the season, thanks largely in part to a strong start on the mound and some late-game heroics from the rookies.
Lorenzen rebounds nicely
After a string of rough starts, Michael Lorenzen delivered exactly the type of start he needed to, not just for himself but for the Rockies
in general.
Lorenzen’s night started simply as he enjoyed a quick 1-2-3 top of the first inning with a pair of strikeouts. The second inning was more of the same, as he got a couple of quick outs and a strikeout. The third inning then featured another two strikeouts as part of another 1-2-3 inning. Perfect through three, it was the second straight start for Lorenzen in which he had five strikeouts through the first three innings.
His luck ran out in the top of the fourth inning when Pete Crow-Armstrong hit a towering ball to center field that kicked off the wall for a triple. Moisés Ballesteros grounded a ball to first base to score PCA to give the Cubs an early 1-0 lead.
However, unlike previous outings, Lorenzen didn’t let things spiral out of control. He got Michael Busch to ground out, issued a walk to Alex Bregman, and then struck out Ian Happ to end the inning.
The Cubs threatened in the fifth inning with a one-out double from Nico Hoerner and a two-out walk to Dansby Swanson. PCA then stepped up to the plate but thanks to the height of Kyle Karros at third base, was robbed of a hit on a line drive that would have scored another run if Karros had not leaped to make the grab.
Feeling good at 84 pitches, Lorenzen didn’t come out for the sixth. He went five innings, allowing just one run on two hits with two walks and a season-high seven strikeouts. What aided his success was being able to get ahead of the Cubs’ hitters. He threw a first-pitch strike about 65% of the time while also avoiding barrels. The balls the Cubs put in play had an average exit velocity of 77.1 mph.
Hopefully, the success of this outing will give Lorenzen the much-needed confidence moving forward to turn things around on the mound.
Shota shuts things down
While Lorezen was dealing for the Rockies, Shota Imanaga was matching him for the Cubs.
The Rockies first threatened in the first inning after TJ Rumfield threw out a single and Hunter Goodman drew a walk with two outs. However, Imanaga escaped the jam with a strikeout of Ezequiel Tovar.
He then struck out the side in the second inning, while also allowing a two-out walk to Braxton Fulford. A 1-2-3 third inning was then followed by a lead-off single for Goodman and three quick outs. The fifth inning also followed suit as the Rockeis went down in order.
Imanaga allowed just two hits over five innings with seven strikeouts and two walks. The Rockies took some length at-bats and made him work as he threw 90 pitches. However, Imanaga did what he often does best and threw a lot of strikes and limited hard-hit balls.
In fact, there was only one hard-hit ball through the first five innings of the game for either team, the first time that happened in MLB this season.
Welcome back, Jeff Criswell
After Lorenzen departed, the bullpen continued to give the Rockies offense a chance to win. Brennan Bernardnio fired a scoreless sixth inning, followed by a clean seventh by Juan Mejia.
But the highlight of the night for the pen was the big-league return of Jeff Criswell.
After a long recovery from Tommy John surgery, Criswell finally stood on a major league mound as he took the ball for the eighth inning. The first batter he faced was Swanson, and he blew a fastball by him for a strikeout. He then got PCA to line a ball to right field for the second out of the inning.
But nothing comes easy.
Carson Kelly, who had entered the game in the sixth inning, drew a walk, followed by a soft-hit single by Busch. Bregman stepped up to the plate and, after a lengthy battle, popped the ball up to first base to end the inning. After nearly 18 months, Criswell managed to keep the game close in an awesome moment and was reaching about 96 mph with his fastball.
Keep on threatening
The Rockies continued to threaten the Cubs’ bullpen in the sixth inning after a pair of two-out singles from Goodman and Tovar. However, the Rockies couldn’t get a run when Cole Carrigg popped out to the catcher after launching a long foul ball to left field.
Shut down again in the seventh, the Rockies finally broke through in the bottom of the eighth inning after the hot-hitting Edouard Julien collected a pinch-hit single with one out. Perhaps frustrated by an earlier strikeout, Rumfield stepped up to the plate and swung at a first-pitch changeup from Jacob Webb and tucked it into the right field seats. The two-run homer was the first go-ahead home run in the eighth inning or later, allowing the rookie first baseman to give the Rockies a 2-1 lead.
Ninth-inning drama
Unfortunately, the parallels of the game continued as Happ launched a solo home run on the second pitch of the ninth off Antonio Senzatela to tie the game 2-2. Senzatela rebounded nicely to escape the inning without further damage, leaving it up to the offense to look for some magic once again.
Facing Daniel Palencia, Troy Johnston managed to draw a leadoff walk. The Rockies then turned to a left-handed pinch hitter in Brett Sullivan. Sullivan attempted to bunt twice but failed and continued to battle to line a base hit into right field on the ninth pitch of the at-bat.
With runners on the corners, Sterlin Thompson was called upon to pinch hit. He fouled off the first pitch at 101.3 mph. Down 0-1 and with the infield playing in, Thompson roped a 100.4 mph fastball through the right-side hole for a base hit to drive in Johnston and secure the 3-2 walk-off victory.
He became just the fourth Rockies rookie to ever have a pinch-hit walk-off hit, the first since Ben Paulsen in 2015.
The Rockies ended up out-hitting the Cubs 9-5 while striking out 11 times and drawing just three walks. They went just 1-for-3 with runners in scoring position, but that ended up being all that they needed.
Up next
The Rockies and Cubs conclude the series with an afternoon affair. Ryan Feltner (2-1, 4.22 ERA) takes the mound for the Rockies, looking to continue his string of strong starts. Edward Cabrera (3-3, 4.99 ERA) will do the pitching for the Cubs in his second start since coming off the injured list on June 5.
First pitch is scheduled for 1:10 pm MDT.
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