OFFENSE DELIVERS
Anderson has quality start
Cubs starter Yu Darvish cruised through the first four innings of his Coors Field debut Saturday, and it looked like the Rockies’ faltering offense — which entered the game last in the National League with a .219 team batting average — was destined to have a quiet night at the hands of the Cubs’ ace.
But in the decisive fifth, the Rockies’ offense awoke for the bat-around rally needed to jumpstart them to a 5-2 win as southpaw Tyler Anderson also did his part by delivering a quality start for Colorado.
Down 2-0 entering the inning, after Wilson Contreras’ double gave the Cubs an advantage in the first, the Rockies capitalized on three Darvish walks to plate five runs and chase him from the game.
DJ Lemahieu, Gerardo Parra, Nolan Arenado and Trevor Story all had RBI hits.
The fifth was partially enabled by Anderson, as the pitcher drew a two-out walk to turn the lineup over to Lemahieu, whose groundrule double brought home the first Rockies run.
And on the hill, Anderson settled in after the two runs in the first inning, not allowing any more Cubs to score and striking out five after that through five more frames.
Jake Mcgee, Adam Ottavino and Wade Davis then proceeded to silence the Cubs lineup the rest of the evening, the latest solid showing for a cash-infused bullpen that has been mostly nails through the first three weeks of the season.
Davis picked up his ninth save, tops in baseball.