Cubs at Rockies
The Colorado Rockies try for their 11th straight home victory and a three-game sweep of the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday afternoon. Colorado (35-31) rolled to a 10-3 victory Tuesday behind a combined five RBIs from Charlie Blackmon and Daniel Murphy as it continues pursuit of a third straight National League wild-card berth.
“We need to keep playing well, winning games here and staying playoff-relevant,'' Rockies general manager Jeff Bridich told reporters. "We haven’t yet gotten over that hump here - three over, four over - we’re still hovering in and around that .500 area. We haven’t taken that next step up that we took last year and the year before.” Colorado's starters own the worst ERA in baseball at 5.59 but received another boost from right-hander Peter Lambert, who is 2-0 with a 1.50 ERA in two career starts - both against the Cubs - after allowing one run in five innings Tuesday. Chicago (37-29) was 41 games over .500 on the road from 2015-18 - the best record in the NL during that span - but is 13-18 this season with four contests looming at Dodger Stadium starting Thursday. The Cubs' Cole Hamels takes the ball Wednesday after not allowing an earned run in each of his last two starts and opposes Antonio Senzatela, who is 2-0 with a 2.00 ERA in his last three outings.
TV: 3:10 p.m. ET, MLB Network; NBCS Chicago, AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain (Colorado)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Cubs LH Cole Hamels (5-2, 3.24 ERA) vs. Rockies RH Antonio Senzatela (5-4, 4.95)
Hamels allowed three hits and a walk while striking out 10 in eight scoreless innings of a 3-1 victory over the Cardinals on Friday. The 35-year-old Californian was a tough-luck loser in his previous outing after yielding one unearned run, two hits and two walks in a 2-1 loss at St. Louis on June 2. Murphy and Ian Desmond have a combined two home runs and 22 strikeouts in 116 at-bats against Hamels, who is 4-4 with a 3.20 ERA in 11 games against the Rockies - 2-2, 379 in six turns at Coors Field.
Senzatela outperformed reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom in a 5-1 victory over the Mets in New York on Friday when he allowed a solo home run among four hits in six innings. The 24-year-old Venezuelan was also sharp in a victory over Toronto and a no-decision against Arizona, lowering his WHIP to 1.53 and batting average against to .286. Chicago's batters are hitting .333 against Senzatela, who is 1-0 with a 7.50 ERA in three games (two starts) against the Cubs.
WALK-OFFS
1. Blackmon hit a three-run homer Tuesday and has reached base in 22 straight games and in all 21 contests this season at home, where he's hitting .414 with 10 home runs and 19 RBIs.
2. Chicago 3B David Bote, who grew up some 35 miles north of Coors Field in Longmont, Colo., is 3-for-5 with a solo homer and two runs scored in the series.
3. Colorado 3B Nolan Arenado and Chicago SS Javier Baez are 1-2 in the NL in multi-hit games with 26 and 25.