Despite a valiant comeback effort fueled by four home runs, the Colorado Rockies couldn’t overcome a disastrous second inning by the Chicago Cubs as they dropped the series finale 8-6 to lose the series. They finish their road trip with a 2-4 record.
A mixed night for Sean Sullivan
After an impressive, albeit short, outing for his Major League debut, the Rockies hoped to see more of Sean Sullivan in his second start.
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The night started promisingly as Sullivan allowed just one walk as he faced four batters and retired the side on 12 pitches. The top of the Cubs’ order looked off balance as he continued to be deceptive. However, the second inning proved to be a nightmare for the young lefty.
Alex Bregman led off the inning with a walk. Ian Happ blooped a single to right field that fell perfectly in a spot that no fielder could cover. Matt Shaw then tripled to center field to get the Cubs on the board with an early 2-0 lead. An RBI double from Carson Kelly followed to make it 3-0. The struggling Dansby Swanson then stepped up to the plate and hit a fly ball to left field that the wind pushed out for a two-run home run to make it 5-0 and complete the team cycle in the inning.
Sullivan finally got the first out of the inning by getting Pete Crow-Armstrong out on a fly ball. The Cubs remained aggressive as Nico Hoerner singled to right field, followed by Seiya Suzuki’s RBI double to make it 6-0. Michael Busch then singled to put runners on the corners, and Bregman flew out to left field for the second out of the inning to drive in a run and make it 7-0. Happ flew out to right field to end the inning. By the end, Sullivan had thrown 42 pitches in the inning alone.
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He rebounded nicely in the third inning with back-to-back strikeouts and a borderline catch by Tyler Freeman in right field. Sullivan then allowed a lead-off home run to PCA in the fourth inning that held up after a lengthy review by the umpire crew to make it 8-1, and then got through the inning without further damage.
His night ended after four innings, allowing eight runs on nine hits with two walks and two strikeouts. He pounded the zone, throwing 56-of-82 pitches for strikes, but he managed just two swing and misses. It was a start reminiscent of Sullivan’s starts in Tripe-A Albuquerque, where the margin of error isn’t large, leading to one ugly inning surrounded by a lot of things to like about him. He’ll likely get another start next week, this time at Coors Field against the Boston Red Sox.
“He got behind in counts and had to come over the plate with his heater,” said manager Warren Schaeffer. “But he came back out and got 1-2-3 in the third and got us through four innings. He knuckled down and did what he had to.”
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Sterlin Silver
The Rockies weren’t quite as successful against Cubs starter Javier Assad as they managed just two runs on five hits (more on that in a second) while also striking out just once with no walks. Assad managed an even split of groundouts and flyouts with six apiece while he threw 56 strikeouts of his 92 pitches.
Sterlin Thompson had quite the night as he was the Rockies’ main proprietor of offense for most of the game. In his first at-bat, he collected his first career home run by sending a ball the opposite way to get the Rockies on the board.
The Rockies threatened with a couple other runners following the home run but nothing came of it. As Thompson stepped up to the plate in the fifth inning, he turned on a ball to right-center field for his second home run of the game to make it 8-2.
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He added a two-out double in the top of the seventh but struck out in the ninth to end up going 3-for-4 with two RBI and two runs scored. He became the first rookie in Rockies history to have a multi-home run game at Wrigley Field.
Zach Agnos steadies the ship
After Sullivan managed to grind through four innings, the Rockies turned to Zach Agnos with the hopes of getting a few good innings out of him. Despite the mixed-bag of results on the year, Agnos did exactly what they wanted him to do.
Of course, no pitcher is expected to do it all by himself, and Agnos was the beneficiary of some help from his defense in his first inning of work. Happ led off the inning with a double to right to bring Shaw up to the plate. Agnos managed to get him to fly out deep to center field, where Cole Carrigg made the catch. Happ tagged up and tried to move up 90 feet, but Carrigg fired a laser to third base to cut him down for a double-play. The throw came in at 99.8 mph, the fifth-hardest throw by a player in MLB this season.
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Agnos closed out the inning and worked around two walks through his next two innings of work. In a game that could have quickly spiraled out of control, Agnos went three innings, allowing just one hit with two walks and two strikeouts.
He gave way to Jimmy Herget in the ninth for his first appearance after being activated from the injured list. The Cubs managed a couple of bunt hits, but he escaped the inning unscathed.
Late game rally
The Rockies’ offense managed to make things a bit more interesting with a rally in the eighth inning against reliever Ethan Roberts. Jake McCarthy led off with a walk and was followed by a Freeman single. Both runners then moved up on a passed ball with TJ Rumfield at the plate. Rumfield grounded out a ball to first base for the first out, which allowed McCarthy to score and make it 8-3.
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Hunter Goodman then stepped up to the plate and blasted his 21st home run of the season, 14th on the road, to straightaway center to make the game 8-5. For Goodman, his 21 home runs are the most by a National League catcher before the All-Star break since Javy Lopez hit 23 back in 2003.
The Rockies couldn’t add on in the eighth but tried to build more momentum in the ninth inning. Facing Jacob Webb, Kyle Karros connected on a first-pitch fastball over the heart of the plate for his fourth home run of the season to make it 8-6. Unfortunately, that is all the Rockies could muster as Webb closed it out for the save.
On the night, Colorado had nine hits, including four home runs, while striking out just three times. However, they went 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position.
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“The Boys keep fighting, they keep fighting every night,” said Schaeffer about the comeback effort. “It’s no secret, the league has to know that we keep fighting until the end. It’s what we do and I’m proud of them for that.”
Up next
The Rockies head back home to Coors Field for a six-game homestand starting Friday. The Pittsburgh Pirates roll into town first for the weekend with Bubba Chandler (2-7, 4.76 ERA) scheduled to make the start for the Buccos. Kyle Freeland (1-7, 7.98 ERA) will take the pill for the Rockies.
First pitch is scheduled for 6:40 pm MDT.
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