Rockies lose to Cubs 7-5 in series finale

The Rockies couldn’t finish up the sweep at Wrigley today, as the Cubs took the finale 7-5.

The Cubs got off to a fast start against Antonio Senzatela. Jon Jay and Kris Bryant started the game with back-to-back singles. Anthony Rizzo then doubled to make it 1-0. After that, Ben Zobrist homered to make it 4-0. Senzatela labored through 36 pitches to get three outs in the first. It looked like he might be in for a Hobbesian start: “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.” At worst, it ended up an overall team effort, not that bad, fine all things considered, and perhaps pretty short.

The Rockies had an opportunity to chip away at the lead in the fourth inning. With one out, Mark Reynolds hit a double, and the next batter, Ian Desmond, singled to right. Typically, that means a run scores. But Jason Heyward got to the ball quickly and fired a strong throw back in, keeping Reynolds at third base. Trevor Story then flew out to to shallow right field for the second out, and Pat Valaika hit a weak grounder to second to end the inning.

The Cubs also had an opportunity in the fourth. Miguel Montero doubled to lead things off, and Addison Russell singled to put runners on the corners with nobody out. Senzatela struck out his counterpart Jake Arrieta for the first out, but that brought up the top of the order. Jay, who led off the game against Senzatela with a single, struck out. But that brought Bryant, the 2016 MVP, to the plate. All Senza did was strike him out. Bryant swung and missed at a slider low in the zone.

Senzatela wrapped up the inning having thrown 94 pitches, so that was it for him. His final line was four innings pitched, seven hits, four runs, two walks, and six strikeouts—not bad considering the first inning.

The Rockies got on the board in the fifth inning. Tony Wolters led off with a double, and Raimel Tapia followed that with a walk. Charlie Blackmon was hit by a pitch to load the bases with nobody out. Then, DJ LeMahieu got an RBI in the easiest fashion possible by drawing a walk, making it 4-1. Carlos González followed that up with a strikeout looking. CarGo argued the final strike call (which wasn’t a bad call relative to other bad calls this series) and got tossed from the game for his effort.

If the Rockies were rattled after the ejection, they didn’t show it. With the bases still loaded, Reynolds singled to left field to make it a 4-2 game. Next up, Ian Desmond singled up the middle to tie the game at four:

Jordan Lyles entered the game in the fifth, which got through cleanly. He also retired the first two batters he faced in the sixth. But Lyles then hung a breaking ball to Russell, who knocked hit it out of the park to left, giving the Cubs a 5-4 lead. After that, Kyle Schwarber nearly hit one out of the stadium to right field. That made it a 6-4 game. In the eighth, Miguel Montero hit another solo home run, making it 7-4.

The Rockies made it interesting in the ninth against Cubs closer Wade Davis. With two outs, Blackmon singled and advanced to second base on defensive indifference. LeMahieu singled him home to make it 7-5. That brought the tying run to the plate. Unfortunately, that tying run was represented by Alexi Amarista (who entered the game earlier as part of a double switch in place of Raimel Tapia, who himself was in right field after CarGo’s ejection). He popped out to left field to end the game.

Tomorrow, the Rockies begin a three-game series in Pittsburgh. Kyle Freeland will face Jameson Taillon in the first of those three games, which starts at 5:05 MT.