Rock-bottom offense.
For the Colorado Rockies, it is the same story on a different day for the worst offensive team in baseball as they lost to the Cubs in Chicago on Monday night by a score of 3-2.
The Cubs jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the friendly confines of Wrigley Field when Addison Russell singled in the bottom of the second inning and Ben Zobrist drove Russell home after he hit a ground-rule double two pitches before.
Luckily for Colorado, Kyle Freeland pitched well on Monday night and gave up only that single run through four innings. That is when the Rockies offense finally came to life.
Noel Cuevas bunted to get on base. Then, Pat Valaika walked, but Cuevas got picked off on second because he was leading too far off of the bag for the first out of the inning. Freeland bunted behind Valaika and also made it to first due to a fielding error by Chicago, setting up Charlie Blackmon with men on first and second base. Blackmon came through with a short single to score Valaika and tie the game at 1-1. Nolan Arenado kept the inning going with a double that scored Freeland and the Rockies took their first lead in three games.
Still, even that fifth inning did not go as planned. The inning was still marred by Cuevas being picked off as well as Chris Iannetta striking out looking for the final out with men on first and second base.
Meanwhile, Freeland started looking tired on the mound as he neared 70 pitches. He gave up back-to-back singles before Jon Lester luckily popped up and out on a bunt. But, Albert Almora then singled to bring home Russell to tie the game up at 2-2 before a double play started by Arenado finished off the inning.
It was more of the same for the Rockies and the Cubs in the sixth inning; Colorado left two more runners on base, while Chicago scored again. Kris Bryant led off with a triple, scoring one batter later for the eventual winning run, making it 3-2 after six.
Colorado’s seventh was over quickly — in one-two-three fashion. In the eighth inning, bad luck haunted Colorado’s offense once again as Iannetta’s leadoff hit was too hot to handle and he was able to make it on base. Unfortunately, Iannetta was then thrown out in a double play when Parra grounded it to first. To make matters worse, Bryant kept it going with a great play to his right to end the inning.
Carlos Gonzalez reached with one out in the ninth, prompting a pitching change to Steve Cishek to face Ian Desmond, who grounded up the middle and Gonzalez was out. Then, in the bottom of the ninth with two outs and Blackmon at the plate and he was able to draw a walk, which sent Arenado to the plate. But the Rockies’ best player struck out — the team’s ninth strikeout of the game — to end the game.
Lester gave up two runs on five hits with five strikeouts and three walks in 5.2 innings. He was solid, but the Rockies offensive inability made him look like a Hall of Famer.
For the Rockies, it’s their third-straight road loss, dropping the purple and black to 15-15 on the season. Next up, two more games against the Cubs; Tuesday at 6:05 p.m. MT and then Wednesday at 12:20 p.m. MT.
