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This road trip has seen some of the best and the worst of the Rockies offense. They have been outscored 15-1 in the three loses while scoring 17-6 in their two wins. A win tonight would give them a .500 road trip and also a .500 2013 road record.
Just as the Rockies offense has been either mouse or monster, so has Cubs starter Jeff Samardzija (1-5). He has alternated starts of ERAs over 5 with games where his ERA has been below 3. The Rockies will look to break this trend of his and give him two bad starts in a row.
While every Rockie position player got a hit last night, the three struggling catalysts for the team continued to struggle. Dexter Fowler went 1 for 4 with a sacrifice but his one hit turned into an out as he failed to stretch a double into a triple (Hey Dex, there is no foul territory in Wrigley, don't try for a triple). Rosario got a hit as well but went 1 for 5 and only saw 13 pitches in those 5 at bats. Meanwhile, Josh Rutledge only eked out one hit and these three combined for all three strikeouts by Rockies regulars. Another disturbing statistic is that the Rox, as a team, only had one walk and that was by Jeff Francis.
Meanwhile, the Cubs offense has not helped Samardzija out when he does pitch well. He has gotten less than 3 runs of support per game this season and an average of 1.6 runs per game in his five losses. The Cubs batters will be facing a pitcher in Jon Garland (3-3) who is very comfortable pitching in Chicago, albeit on the other side of town.
Jon has been fairly consistent for the Rockies, they have come to expect around six innings pitched by him and about three runs allowed. If Garland can do this and the bullpen can do their job, it will be up to the Rockies offense to let their inner monster loose and get at least five runs to guarantee a win. Starting lineups:
Colorado:
1. Eric Young (S) RF
2. Dexter Fowler (S) CF
3. Carlos Gonzalez (L) LF
4. Troy Tulowitzki (R) SS
5. Todd Helton (L) 1B
6. Nolan Arenado (R) 3B
7. Josh Rutledge (R) 2B
8. Yorvit Torrealba (R) C
9. Jon Garland (R) P
Chicago:
1. David DeJesus (L) CF
2. Starlin Castro (R) SS
3. Anthony Rizzo (L) 1B
4. Alfonso Soriano (R) LF
5. Nate Schierholtz (L) RF
6. Luis Valbuena (L) 3B
7. Dioner Navarro (S) C
8. Darwin Barney (R) 2B
9. Jeff Samardzija (R) P
GO ROCKIES!