Game One Hundred Twenty-Three – Cubs 4, Rockies 11
WP – Jorge De La Rosa (8-7) LP – Jason Hammel (13-6) Save – None
The Cubs played the Rockies for the final time on the season Sunday afternoon at wonderful Coors Field. The Cubs had a bad day and were not really in the game at all. The Rockies scored seven runs in the first inning, three more in the fourth on Nolan Arenado’s second three-run homer of the game. Addison Russell hit two longballs for two of the four runs as the Cubs lost Sunday afternoon in Denver.
Jason Hammel was hammered Sunday and was gone before the end of the fourth inning. Hammel became the first Cubs’ starting pitcher to lose a game since Jake Arrieta on July 30, a stretch of 19 games. Hammel did not have it Sunday and received no help from his defense. Four different Cubs were charged with four errors while Hammel was on the mound.
Jason Hammel allowed seven runs in the first inning, three were earned. Nolan Arenado hit the first of two three-run homers off Hammel in the first. Hammel made 39 of his 97 pitches in the first inning. Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo and Willson Contreras were charged with errors in what was the ugliest inning of the entire season for Maddon’s team. And the Rockies’ sixth and seventh runs scored on a single from Jorge De La Rosa.
Jason Hammel turned the game over to Rob Zastryzny with one out in the fourth. Hammel was charged with 10 runs, six earned, on 10 hits with two walks and two strikeouts. Hammel made 97 pitches, 68 for strikes.
Rob Zastryzny had a very good outing in a difficult environment. Zastryzny gave up two hits with a walk in 2 2/3 scoreless innings. Zastryzny struck out five and made 49 pitches, 30 for strikes. Spencer Patton completed the last two innings and gave up one run (a solo homer by D.J. LeMahieu) on two hits with no walks and three strikeouts.
The Cubs offense was pretty much a no show on Sunday. The Cubs allowed Jorge De La Rosa to have an excellent day on the mound. De La Rosa took a perfect game into the fourth inning. Dexter Fowler (0-for-3 with a walk) worked a walk and Anthony Rizzo (2-for-4 with a run scored) singled for the Cubs first hit of the day with one out in the fourth.
Addison Russell (2-for-3 with two home runs) supplied the Cubs with the first two runs of the game. Russell launched two home runs off Jorge De La Rosa. Russell appeared to be the only one in Joe Maddon’s lineup prepared to hit against De La Rosa.
Travis Wood (1-for-1) played the last two innings in left field and collected one of the Cubs’ seven hits on the afternoon. Ben Zobrist (1-for-4 with a RBI) saw time at shortstop for the first time on the season. Zobrist replaced Russell at short in the seventh.
The Cubs scored twice in the ninth. Kris Bryant (1-for-4 with a run scored) singled and went to second on a single from Rizzo. Zobrist drove in Bryant with a long single off the right field wall. Zobrist was thrown out at second base for the first out.
Jorge Soler (no official at bat, sac fly RBI) picked up a RBI in the ninth inning. Soler popped out to Ben Paulsen in foul ground, about 30-40 feet from the plate. Rizzo was at third and noticed no one was covering home because Rockies’ catcher Tony Wolters also went after Soler’s pop up. Rizzo tagged and scored the Cubs’ fourth run.
The Cubs dropped the series at Coors Field, the first series loss of the second half, after giving two of the three games to the Rockies.
With Sunday’s loss (10-10 on Sundays in 2016), the Cubs slipped to 78-45 on the season.
The Cubs open a three-game series on Monday night (9:10pm CDT) in San Diego. Jon Lester is scheduled to face Edwin Jackson in the opener with the Padres.