Diamondbacks blank Rockies
PHOENIX – Arizona’s starters have taken turns stringing together quality starts all season for one of baseball’s best rotations.
To say they’re feeding off each other might be a stretch. More like nobody wants to be the one who unravels the string.
Zac Gallen struck out seven in seven crisp innings, Jose Herrera hit a two-run double for his first big-league RBIs and the Arizona Diamondbacks
beat the Colorado Rockies 4-0 on Sunday.
“You see a guy go out there pitching well, you want to do your part,” Gallen
said. “You don’t want to be the weak link. It’s going through the whole clubhouse. The pitching staff, we’re trying to bring that edge, that tenacity.”
Ketel Marte had three hits to boost his average to .206 and the Diamondbacks took advantage of a few mistakes by Colorado’s Germán Márquez (0-3) to win for the ninth time in 12 games.
Gallen (2-0) allowed five hits and Arizona’s bullpen held a day after Mark
hits for Los Angeles, and Justin Turner and Freddie Freeman each contributed a sacrifice fly. Mookie Betts went 2 for 5 while extending his hitting streak to a team-high nine games.
Chicago lost for the 14th time in 17 games. It managed just three runs and 15 hits in the three-game sweep by Los Angeles.
“We played a couple teams lately that feels like we’re chasing that kind of championship-caliber baseball,” manager David Ross said. “We’ll get there.”
The Cubs had to shuffle their rotation after Marcus
Stroman was scratched, and then they lost Justin Steele to a left hand injury.
Stroman was placed on the injured list without a designation, likely meaning the right-hander was shelved by a COVID-19-related issue.
Steele (1-4) stepped in, making his first appearance since April 30. But he departed before the fifth inning, sidelined by left thumb soreness.
The Dodgers jumped all over Michael Rucker after Steele trudged into the dugout. With the bases loaded and none out in the fifth, Lux scored on Trea Turner’s double-play ball for a 3-1 lead. Betts then scampered home on a wild pitch.
Freeman’s sacrifice fly made it 5-1 in the seventh, and the NL West leaders tacked on two more runs in the ninth – helped by an error on shortstop Nico Hoerner.
UP NEXT
Dodgers: LHP Julio Urías (2-1, 1.88 ERA) gets the ball Monday night at
Pittsburgh. LHP José Quintana (0-1, 3.38) starts for the Pirates.
Cubs: RHP Kyle Hendricks (1-3, 5.64 ERA) starts Monday night at San Diego in the opener of a six-game trip. LHP MacKenzie Gore (2-0, 1.71) takes the mound for the Padres.