Colorado Rockies downed by Chicago Cubs 9-5

Dexter Fowler tripled on the very first pitch of the game, setting the tone for what would be a long evening. Kyle Kendrick, after such an amazing start to the season in the opener, had a stinker of a game and got lit for eight runs in just five innings of work. He had trouble locating his pitches all night, throwing just 57 of his 102 total pitches for strikes. He struck out three, but walked five in addition to being taken deep three times. He also hit a batter, but that batter was Anthony Rizzo, so... take that as you will.

The Cubs scored their first run of the game courtesy of a Jorge Soler sac fly that plated Dex, but Kendrick was able to get himself out of the inning after hitting Rizzo and walking Montero. The Cubs, however, tacked on two runs in both the second and third innings. A second triple from Dexter Fowler drove in both Jason Hammel and Alcántara in the second, before Mike Olt and Chris Coghlan each took Kendrick deep for solo home runs. Giving up two dingers is never a good thing, but giving them up to Coghlan and Olt hurts considering the seasons they've been having so far, albeit just a few games in. Coghlan entered the evening having hit 1 for 7 in his previous games, while Olt was 1 for 8. If anyone on the Cubs was going to go deep, couldn't it have been Rizzo?? At least that'd net me some fantasy points.

Kendrick worked a scoreless fourth, although a Dex walk to start the inning followed by a Soler single was a dicey start. Starlin Castro tacked on another run in the fifth, sending the first pitch of the inning 445 feet over the left-center wall. Two straight walks to start the sixth prompted Walt Weiss to pull the plug on Kendrick, and Christian Friedrich was given the happy task of bailing him out. Three more runs would be tacked on that inning, thanks to two singles, an infield ground ball, and a Charlie Blackmon error. I love Chuck, I really do, but come on man. Tough start to the season.

Friedrich, Betancourt, and Ottavino were able to stop the bleeding and the Rockies attempted a late rally, but fell far short. A two-run home run from who other than Nolan Arenado and an RBI-single from Justin Morneau gave the Rockies three runs early. Dickerson drove in both Arenado and Tulowitzki in the eighth, cutting the deficit to four, but that'd be the end of the run scoring.

Notes:

• Tough game for CarGo at the plate, who finished 0 for 5 and struck out once.
• Arenado, Dickerson, and LeMahieu continued their scorching hot start at the plate, combining to go 7 for 12 with 4 RBIs.
• Jason Hammel and Dexter Fowler came back to haunt the Rockies, each going 2 for 3 at plate with the former reaching on two singles and the latter coming up with two triples. Fowler also drew two walks in what is a good look at what we need our leadoff man to do, which is get on base. The triples are nice, of course, but having your leadoff guy get on base 4 out of the total 5 times he got to the plate is huge.
• Disappointing day for Kendrick, especially considering how dominant he was against the Brewers. If nothing else, we need him to eat innings out of the back of the rotation. Everyone is going to have tough outings, but moving forward we need more than five innings out of our starters. It is nice, however, to have two guys who are ostensibly starters in the bullpen in Friedrich and Bergman who can eat innings if needed.
• Lyles takes on Hendricks tomorrow afternoon for the final game of the series. Let's take the second series in a row and build some momentum, as the Rockies' next 25 games will be against their division rivals.