It was another rough day for many of the Chicago Cubs bats, as they lost their second game in a row, against the Colorado Rockies by a score of 4-3.
Chicago starter Javier Assad, who tossed a quality start in his previous outing, got off to a shaky beginning, walking three straight batters to load the bases with one out.
A Brendan Rodgers groundout to third made it 1-0 before Randal Grichuk's singled in the other two runs, planting the Cubs in a 3-0 hole. Rockies' left fielder Connor Joe led off the second inning with a home run to make it 4-0, ending Assad's day after just two rather weak innings.
The righty threw 62 pitches, just 32 of which were strikes over his two innings of work. Assad walked four batters, allowed two hits, and struck out three batters as well.
From then it was be a bullpen effort, starting with Michael Rucker tossing a scoreless third inning with three strikeouts. In the bottom of the frame, Cubs catcher Yan Gomes knocked in Michael Hermosillo and Chris Morel on a single to right field to cut the Colorado's lead in half.
Both offenses went quiet for the fourth and fifth innings, as Erich Uelman tossed two scoreless frames and scattered four punch-outs for Chicago. Gomes knocked in his third run of the game on a solo home run, the third and final run Rockies starter Ryan Feltner allowed. He exited after 5.1 innings following a David Bote double.
Right-handed reliever Justin Lawrence entered, walking Jared Young to put two runners, but retired Esteban Quiroz to strand the runners at first and second.
The Cubs' and Rockies' bullpens held each other silent for three more innings apiece, but with a one-run lead that outcome did not favor Chicago.
Esteban Quiroz grounded out against Rockies' closer Daniel Bard for an 0-for-3 start to his career and sent the Cubs packing for their trip to Miami.
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