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There was a unique and challenging task put before Colorado Rockies rookie pitcher Peter Lambert in just his second start in MLB on Tuesday night.
He would face the Chicago Cubs for the second straight time, making the team full of All-Stars the only lineup he has faced so far in his career.
Typically, the advantage in such a situation would go to the hitters who now have some eye-test information on which to build a plan of attack. But Lambert was barely touched at all, displaying remarkable maturity in another fantastic outing.
He battled in what was a close game in the early going before the clicking Colorado offense turned on the jets and sped away from the Cubs for a 10-3 victory. The visitors had only three hits going into the ninth inning.
They have now won 10 games in a row at home and took the series from Chicago after dropping one to them last week.
The Rockies took an early lead thanks to a series of long, patient at-bats in the first. Charlie Blackmon led off by staying with a breaking pitch away from him and lining it off the wall in left for a double.
Trevor Story struck out and David Dahl ground out to second but both battled and Quintana wanted no part of Nolan Arenado, issuing a four-pitch walk.
After falling behind 0-2, Daniel Murphy fought back and lined one into the right-field corner for a double that scored a pair and gave Colorado a 2-0 lead.
The Cubs answered in the top of the second when Jason Heyward went down an lifted a low fastball to left just barely over the wall for a solo home run.
It seemed like it would be a flyout off the bat and ended up being the best struck ball of the game for the Cubs against Lambert.
The rookie cruised from there, getting a big strikeout of Anthony Rizzo in the fifth to end his evening on a high note.
And that’s when the Rockies offense went to work.
Chris Iannetta led off the bottom of the fifth with an excellent draw of a walk and Mark Reynolds did the same, pinch-hitting for Lambert.
Blackmon popped up to the third baseman but Story and Arenado came up with a couple of singles to plate a pair of runs, also getting some help on a throwing error from Javier Baez.
Then they really poured it on in the sixth.
Murphy once again played a pivotal role, getting things started with a single. He advanced to third on a Desmond single and scored on a liner to left from Iannetta. Raimel Tapia kept it going with a pinch-hit single to right, scoring McMahon.
That’s when the Cubs decided to go to former-Rockie Tyler Chatwood who famously struggled to pitch well at Coors Field when he wore purple. He promptly served up a tater to Blackmon who absolutely unloaded on one to drive it over the wall in center for his 12th home run of the season.
Suddenly, the Rockies were up 9-1.
They added another in the eighth, again beginning with an Iannetta walk. It was followed by an infield single for Brendan Rodgers who entered the game on a double switch. Story walked to load the bases and David Dahl hit a liner to left for a sac fly.
Phillip Diehl entered the game in the ninth, making his MLB debut. He gave up a hustle double to David Bote before coming back to get a couple of outs. Then Addison Russell lined to right for a single to score Bote, Daniel Descalso walked, and Albert Almora threw out another single on a jam-shot floater to center field.
But he got Kyle Schwarber to fly out to center, ending the game in a win for the Rockies.
