CHICAGO — With the wind blowing out Tuesday night at Wrigley Field, the Rockies took some big early cuts. It paid off in a 3-1 victory over the Cubs.
Colorado managed only four hits, but three of them were solo homers — by Charlie Blackmon, David Dahl and Nolan Arenado, off Cubs right-hander Kyle Hendricks. Jon Gray pitched a seven-inning gem, allowing one run on six hits with six strikeouts as the Rockies snapped a three-game losing streak.
“The (wind) didn’t change my approach,” Blackmon said. “It did help that my approach was to see the ball up and get it into the air, because (Hendricks) has such good sink on the ball. And on a night like this, if you hit the ball in the air, the wind kind of rewards you.”
The Rockies struck immediately when Blackmon led off with a homer to dead center on a full-count fastball by Cubs right-hander Kyle Hendricks. Then Dahl planted Hendrick’s 74 mph curveball beyond the ivy in left-center. It was Dahl’s first homer of the season.
“Being able to stay on a ball like that, especially adjusting on a slow breaking ball, takes some adjustability,” Dahl said of his opposite-field homer. “To be able to barrel that up felt really good.”
The opening salvo was Black’s 29th leadoff homer of his career, but his first this season. It also marked the third time in Rockies history that they opened the game with back-to-back homers. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the previous two times were May 4, 1996 when Eric Young and Ellis Burks did it vs. Florida; and May 10, 2014 when Blackmon and Corey Dickerson pulled off the feat at Cincinnati.
The Cubs quickly rebounded, with Anthony Rizzo blasting the first pitch he saw from Gray for a leadoff homer. But that was the extent of it for the Cubs offense as their five-game winning streak ended.
“I was a little bit worried that it was going to kind of be the kind of thing where game guys were going to get home runs given to them when they hit, basically, lazy flyballs,” Blackmon said. “But fortunately, Jon Gray went out there and didn’t even let them hit any lazy flyballs. He was missing barrels and making good pitches and that lazy flyball was tough to come by.”
Arenado’s fifth homer of the season led off the fourth, putting the Rockies in front 3-1. Arenado timed up Hendrick’s 71 mph curveball, powering it down the left-field line.
The back of Colorado’s bullpen, which has been almost impenetrable, slammed the door again. Right-handed setup man Adam Ottavino pitched a perfect eighth, striking out one. Wade Davis, who pitched for Chicago last season, gave up a one-out walk to Ben Zobrist, but got Addison Russell to pop out to right and struck out Kyle Schwarber for his 11th save in 12 opportunities.
The teams play the rubber game of the three-game series Wednesday afternoon at Wrigley.
Looking ahead
Rockies LHP Tyler Anderson (1-0, 4.10 ERA) at Cubs RHP Yu Darvish (0-2, 5.26), 12:30 p.m. ATTRM
After exiting his last start in Miami in the second inning due to apparent chest discomfort, Anderson is back on the bump for his second start against Chicago this season. On April 21, he allowed two runs on six hits in six innings in a win over the Cubs at Coors Field, and the southpaw looks to again contain an offense that has hit a collective .324 against him. Meanwhile Darvish, chased by the Rockies in the fourth inning a couple weeks ago, is still searching for his first win of 2018. Plate discipline is key for Colorado, as Darvish is inducing swings on just 26.9 percent of pitches outside of the strike zone — a career low since he came into the league with the Rangers in 2012.
Thursday: Off day
Friday: Rockies RHP German Marquez (1-3, 5.46) at Mets LHP Jason Vargas (0-1, 22.09), 5:10 p.m. ATTRM
Saturday: Colorado RHP Chad Bettis (3-1, 2.43) at Mets LHP Steven Matz (1-2, 4.98), 5:10 p.m., ATTRM
— Kyle Newman, The Denver Post
