Cubs get revenge, clobber Colorado to avoid the sweep

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DENVER – Antonio Senzatela continued his remarkably odd season at Coors Field on Wednesday afternoon in a loss to the Cubs.

While he has pitched right around a quality starts about 70 percent of the time in 2019, the other 30 percent have been outings that were complete disasters.

This was one of the latter.

He was knocked around for eight runs in less than five innings and the Rockies offense couldn’t get anything going against lefty Cole Hamels who danced away from danger all day and the Cubs avoided the sweep.

The Rockies had a great opportunity to strike first, loading the bases against Cole Hamels in the first. Charlie Blackmon started things with a solid single to center and after a Trevor Story strikeout, David Dahl singled to right and Nolan Arenado was pitched around for a walk that loaded the bases.

But Ian Desmond hit a grounder to short that Javier Baez made a smart and athletic play on, firing home just in front of Blackmon to get the force out rather than attempting a double play that would not have been completed and allowed a run to score.

The decision was rewarded further when Mark Reynolds looked at three straight strikes from Hamels to take a backward K with the bases loaded.

Right after the Rockies blew that chance, the Cubs made them regret it in a big way, throwing out five runs in a nightmare second inning for Senzatela.

It began with a single from his friend Carlos Gonzalez who lined one back up the middle. Victor Caratini followed with a double into the corner in right, putting runners at second and third with nobody away.

Jason Heyward cashed them both in by staying with a fastball low and away from him and hitting it on the ground right back where it came from for a two-run single.

Then even Hamels got in on the action, hitting a sharp liner to left for the Cubs fourth straight hit. Senzatela finally got the first out of the inning when Addison Russel flew out to left but Kyle Schwarber delivered the big blow in the next at-bat, hammering a center-cut pitch for a second-deck home run to right field to put Chicago on top 5-0.

The young Rockies righty was able to work his way out of a jam in the third, erasing a single and a walk with a double play and a groundout.

There was a spicy moment in the bottom of that frame when, after a double by Dahl, Arenado was hit by a pitch from the normally very control-heavy Hamels. Arenado took exception on the field and later left the game with a left forearm contusion.

Once again, Desmond and Reynolds could not capitalize.

After a relatively quiet fourth frame for both clubs, Senzatela found trouble again in the fifth, beginning when Baez reached on a fielder error from Brendan Rodgers. Gonzalez then found some fortune when a jam-shot flare to left away from the outfield shift landed just on the line for a double. Senzatela walked Caratini and that was the end of his day.

Jake McGee came on and got Heyward to pop up to third but couldn’t get Hamels who helped his own cause again with a line drive to center to score Baez and Gonzalez. Schwarber added a sac fly to make it 8-0, Cubs.

After some more chippiness when Phillip Diehl plunked Anthony Rizzo, Baez launched a deep homer to make it 10-0. The Rockies got a token run back in the ninth after Tony Wolters was plunked and took second and third on defensive indifference then score on a grounder to make the final score 10-1.