Sloppy night leads to Rockies worst loss of the season

DENVER – Anytime the Colorado Rockies see mistakes from Nolan Arenado and Charlie Blackmon, they are going to have a hard time winning. Throw in another ugly start for Jon Gray, though admittedly about as unlucky as you can get, especially in a fifth inning that saw three defensive miscues, and it all adds up to a major thwomping at the hands of the Chicago Cubs by a score of 16-5.

For the second game in a row, Colorado took a bad loss and the search for a rhythm at home continues.

It all started with the first two batters of the game who served as a microcosm of everything that was to follow. Albert Almora Jr. reached on an infield single that needed to be reviewed and scored when Javier Baez began a huge night by blasting a home run over the high wall in right center.

The Rockies took the lead back in the bottom of the first, getting a lead-off single from DJ LeMahieu who moved up on a groundout from Chris Iannetta and scored on a single by Charlie Blackmon. Arenado proceeded to smash a go-ahead home run on his first swing back from suspension to give Colorado a short-lived and difficult-to-remember 3-2 lead.

The Rockies offense dried up after that. The Cubs’ did not.

Gray ran into trouble again in the third, once again being greeted by a weak single by Almora Jr. Baez followed with a looping single to left and Kris Bryant drew a walk after a competitive at-bat to load the bases. But Gray got Anthony Rizzo to ground into a double play, which did tie the game at three runs apiece, but also did a great deal to help limit the damage. He got Wilson Contreras to pop out to end the threat.

Two innings later, some uncharacteristically poor defense on the part of the home team cost Gray another pair of runs. Baez hit a line drive to left that he stretched into a double, but he would have been out had Ian Desmond’s throw been on the line. Then, he took off for third on a grounder to short and used a creative slide to just barely beat a throw from Trevor Story that it turned out might have been better off going to first base.

Rizzo hit a weak grounder to second that wasn’t hard enough to turn the double play, giving the Cubs a 4-3 lead as Baez scored. The Cubs got another run on a rare throwing error from Arenado coming after yet another soft ground. He charged and threw online but handcuffed Ryan McMahon with a tough short hop at first. There was even a stolen base and a throwing error from catcher Chris Iannetta before the Rockies could escape the nightmare inning.

Gray was chased from the game in the sixth by a single from Addison Russell and a triple off the bat of the struggling Jason Heyward. He was replaced by Bryan Shaw who promptly walked Tommy La Stella then surrendered back-to-back singled to Almora Jr. and Baez.  Then there was a double for Bryant, another RBI groundout for Rizzo and a backbreaking three-run homer from Kyle Schwarber to put the Cubs up 12-4.

They poured on another set of four runs against Antonio Senzatela in the eighth and ninth to make it a true laugher.

Final Stats:

Jon Gray: 5 IP, 8 H, 7 R, 5 ER, 3 BB, 1 K

Bryan Shaw: 0.2 IP, 4 H, 5 ER, 1 BB, 1 K

Scott Oberg: 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K

Antonio Senzatela: 1 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 1 K

Nolan Arenado: 3-for-4, 1 R, 2 RBI

Charlie Blackmon: 1-for-4, 1 R, 1 RBI, 2 K

DJ LeMahieu: 1-for-4, 1 R, 1 RBI

What’s Next:

Game 2 in the series will see Tyler Anderson take on Yu Darvish. First pitch is at 6:10 MST.