The Colorado Rockies could not have asked for a much more sterling MLB debut than the one they got from Peter Lambert on Thursday afternoon in Chicago.
Pitching against a quality and hot-hitting lineup, Lambert was brilliant in going seven innings and giving up just one run on three hits while striking out nine and walking just one.
Even the one free pass he issued was a smart workaround, not an example of him losing command, and the sole run came on the third time through the lineup and was produced by perfectly timed hits from two of the best offensive players in the National League over the past few years.
To say that Lambert held his own again the expected-to-contend Chicago Cubs, would be an understatement.
The nine strikeouts are a new franchise record for a debut, besting Jeff Francis Jason Jennings, and Shawn Chacon who each had eight.
His first frame could not have gone more smoothly. He got Kyle Schwarber, Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo to make weak outs on six pitches.
Then he ran into his first jam in the second, surrendering a leadoff single to Javier Baez, getting a couple of groundouts, then giving up another single to Albert Almora to put a pair aboard. Daniel Descalso was clearly worked around for a four-pitch walk which made all the sense in the world when Lambert came back to calmly strike out his counterpart on three pitches to leave the bases loaded.
He cruised for a while after that while the Rockies struck for a couple of runs in the fourth.
Trevor Story led off the inning by lacing a double to left. Nolan Arenado was unable to move him up, popping out in foul territory, but David Dahl took the torch and singled to left to bring in the first run of the game.
Dahl is now hitting .337 on the year.
Brendan Rodgers flied to right for the second out of the frame but Ian Desmond made sure the Rockies got one more by smashing a double through the heavy winds in center field at 109 MPH, scoring Dahl all the way from first to give Colorado a 2-0 lead.
Lambert had set down 11 in a row before Bryant doubled to left with one out in the sixth. The rookie got Rizzo to ground out but Baez was able to squeak one through the left side for an RBI single to make it a 2-1 game.
But he wasn’t rattled. After giving up the first run of his career, he still had the potential tying run, with good speed, at first and power at the plate representing a potential go-ahead run. Lambert threw some of his best fastballs of the day, getting Contreras to swing through a 1-2 offering for an emphatic strikeout.
The Rockies offense picked up their pitcher by getting that run back in the top of the seventh.
Desmond again was at the center of things, hitting a hard double to right-center with one out, his 16th two-bagger of the season. Mark Reynolds followed with a fly ball to right that Bryant lost in the sun. The break meant that the Rox had runners at second and third with one out, allowing Chris Iannetta to bring one in with another flyball to right, which is exactly what he did.
Lambert responded to all of this by striking out the side (Bote, Almora, Descalso) in the seventh.
Jairo Diaz came on for the eighth and displayed wicked stuff in a strikeout of Jason Heyward but found trouble after a single through the shift for Schwarber and a walk to Bryant. The power righty then impressively struck out a good fastball hitter in Rizzo with some high heat.
Further pressure was added when Diaz didn’t pay attention to Schwarber at second who stole third with Baez at the plate. But, in a mirror of the Rizzo at-bat, he got one of the best breaking ball hitters in the game to roll over a slider to shortstop to escape the jam and keep the game at 3-1.
Scott Oberg worked a 1-2-3 ninth with a big strikeout of Bote to earn his third save of the season and secure the win.
What’s Next
The Rockies are off to the city that never sleeps for a three-game set featuring some of the best pitching in the National League from the New York Mets. Friday’s opener will see Antonio Senzatela face Jacob DeGrom. First pitch at 5:10 Mountain Time.
