10-game home win streak ends
The Rockies arrived at Coors Field on Wednesday with visions of a sweet sweep dancing in their heads.
Two hours and 57 minutes after the first pitch, they were no doubt eager to forget a 10-1 drubbing by the Cubs, move on and thank their lucky stars that third baseman Nolan Arenado was not seriously injured after getting drilled on what the Rockies viewed as a retaliatory pitch by Cole Hamels.
The Cubs received a superb start from Hamels, who pitched seven scoreless innings, allowing six hits, striking out nine and personally putting a halt to Colorado’s 10-game home winning streak. Hamels became just the fourth pitcher to toss at least seven scoreless innings with nine or more strikeouts vs. the Rockies at Coors Field.
Hamels walked only one but his command curiously deserted him when he threw a 90.5 mph fastball that knocked Arenado out of the game with a bruised left forearm.
Asked about the incident, manager Bud Black said: “It didn’t look right to me.”
Hamels hit Arenado in the third inning, and the Rockies’ third baseman clearly was not happy about the beaning, shouting at Hamels and the Chicago dugout. Tuesday, Chicago’s Kris Bryant showed his displeasure about being hit twice by rookie Peter Lambert.
“We hit Bryant twice yesterday … so I kind of had the feeling it was going to happen,” said Arenado, who left the game prior to the fifth inning. “I just thought (the pitch) was high.”
By the end of Wednesday’s game, home plate umpire Roberto Ortiz had issued warnings to both benches and four batters were hit by pitches, including Hamels, who got plunked in the right foot by reliever Bryan Shaw in the seventh inning.
“We get hit a lot,” Chicago manager Joe Maddon said. “(Anthony) Rizzo gets hit a lot, (Bryant) gets hit a lot. You have two options: Go to the mound or go to first base, but don’t sit there and jibber-jabber. Make up your mind. Do one or the other, and either one is fine. To this point, our guys go to first base.”
Asked directly if Hamel intentionally threw at Arenado, Maddon said: “I’m not going to hit their guys for hitting K.B. Everybody has the right to pitch inside. If you’re going to pitch successfully in this ballpark, you have to pitch inside, and some guys are going to get hit.”
While Hamels pitched like an ace, Rockies right-hander Antonio Senzatela showed that he has a long way to go before he’s the kind of pitcher his team can count on. Over four-plus innings, Chicago ripped Senzatela for eight runs (six earned) on eight hits.
“He was fine as far as his overall stuff, but his lack of command hurt him,” Black said.
The Cubs pounded out five runs on five hits in the second inning, the big blow a three-run homer by Kyle Schwarber. Senzatela, 5-5, saw his ERA rise to 5.48.
“I felt pretty good in the first inning, but I lost my command and just left the ball right over the middle, and they hit it really good,” Senzatela said. “It’s a little bit frustrating to me, because every time out, I want to throw a good game and help us win. This was not a good day for me.”
Colorado averted a shutout on Chris Iannetta’s RBI groundout in the ninth.
The Rockies’ best chance to get to Hamels came and went in the first inning when they loaded the bases on singles by Charlie Blackmon and David Dahl and a walk by Arenado. But Hamels induced a groundout by Ian Desmond for a forceout at home and then struck out Mark Reynolds looking.
“You don’t get very many chances against the good ones,” Black said. “We had a chance in the first and didn’t capitalize. He settled in from there, and his changeup was very effective and he spotted his fastball.”
Colorado, winners of 12 of its last 17 games, opens a four-game series against San Diego on Thursday night at Coors Field.