Fennessy’s 2015 Cubs beat Rockies in extra innings

April 10, 2015
Denver, CO

The Cubs travel to Denver’s Coors Field for their first meeting with the Rockies. The Rockies have their usual type of roster, a lot of power, but not much on the mound. Tonight’s game features rookie Kyle Hendricks (CYZ) for the Cubs against Jonathan Gray a D starter for Colorado.

The Cubs have hit the ball pretty hard so far in the short series against the Cardinals, and given the desirable pitching matchups this series I am hoping for more. Dexter Fowler grounds out to Nolan Arenado at third for a quick out, and Starlin Castro hits a hard grounder that appears headed up the middle for a single when second basemen D.J. LeMahieu makes a terrific diving stop and throws him out by a step from his knees. While this cub fan is not thrilled appreciates the extra effort and tips his cap. Anthony Rizzo and Kris Bryant get singles back to back, but nothing comes of it. Hendricks looks sharp with a quick inning and there is no score after one inning of play.

Gray goes almost exclusively with fastballs in the second inning and quickly strikes out Chris Coghlan and Austin Jackson to start the inning but Addison Russell rips a double over Charlie Blackmon’s head in center, but Hendricks fans to end the inning and it looks like a rare pitching duel may be on hand in the mile high city as Kyle retires the side in order to end the second inning with no score.

Those thoughts are quickly dashed as the Cubs break out the lumber in the third frame. Fowler slaps an opposite field double on the first pitch from Gray and scores shortly after as Castro gets a single to right as the Cubs score first tonight. For some reason Gray is very concerned about Castro stealing second and sends a lot of pick off attempts to first trying to keep him close.

That gives Rizzo the advantage as he gets a pitch to his liking and crushes it deep into the right field seats for his first home run of the season and the Cubs now lead 3-0. Kris Bryant then gets a breaking ball that he hits hard and this bounces off the wall in left for a double and the pitching coach comes to the mound to speak with his rattled starter.

Gray stays in the game and after a short battle Miguel Montero hits a single to right for another run and the lead is now 4-0. Coghlan then hits a grounder to the hole at short, but Jose Reyes makes a good stop and is able to get the lead runner for the fielder’s choice. Jackson then hits a one hop smash that Arenado turns into an inning ending 5-4-3 double play. Hendricks then walks Gray with two out in the bottom of the inning and his perfect game ends at 8 hitters, but he still has a no hitter at the end of three innings with the visitors leading 4-0.

Gray finally gets a solid inning of work and Hendricks continues to roll and has allowed no hits after four innings, and the Cubs still lead 4-0.

The Cubs had another rally cut short as Rizzo gets the unintentional walk and Bryant hits a hard grounder right at first baseman Ben Paulsen who turns a 3-6-3 double play to end the rally. I wonder if Fred Tenney’s family gets royalties on these? Despite my deadball reference the Rockies come to bat in the 5th as the inning ends.

Kyle Hendricks no hit bid ends with one out in the fifth as Nick Hundley hits a floater over Russell’s head and is moved to second with two outs following Paulsen’s sacrifice bunt and Reyes hits a single between Castro and Rizzo on the right side for an RBI single. Gray’s night is over as Justin Morneau is announced as a pinch hitter. Unfortunately Morneau’s night is over moments later without even swinging the bat as Hendricks picks Reyes off to end the inning and the Cubs leading 4-1.

Rafael Betancourt, a D comes in and strikes out Montero to start the inning, but walks Coghlan, who surprised everyone by stealing second almost instantly and that was important as Jackson singles to left for an RBI single and he soon steals second too. Fortunately for the Rockies Betancourt gets the next two hitters and the inning ends with the Cubs now leading 5-1.

Hendricks continues to look solid after pinch hitter Tom Murphy flies out to start the inning. Blackmon doubles to center and is stranded there and the inning ends with no change in the score.

Scott Oberg comes in to start the 7th inning and Fowler walks to start the inning. Dex moves to second on Castro’s ground out and scores as Rizzo hits a booming double off the wall in right for his third hit of the day

Russell grounds out and Joe Maddon makes the decision to keep Hendricks in the game and he grounds out weakly to Arenado to end the inning, but the game is now 6-1 Chicago. Hendricks is showing signs of fatigue as Corey Dickerson crushes a towering home run into the trees in center field and the Rockies are still trying to get back into this game. Hundley and Paulsen hit pretty solid fly balls too, but they are caught and the inning is over with the Cubs leading 6-2.

Oberg gives the Rockies another inning of good work allowing just a two out walk to Russell and Maddon surprises Walt Weiss by keeping his starter in the game as the Rockies come to bat in the bottom of the 8th inning. Maddon would instantly regret his decision. Reyes singled to start the inning and Wilin Rosario singles to put runners on the corners with nobody out. Blackmon hits a fly to deep center that scores the third run of the day.

Maddon had the pen working but was hoping to get his starter the complete game but is forced to bring in Pedro Strop, a B reliever. The game would be even closer had Russell not made a huge play to stop a hard hit grounder and get the lead runner to keep Colorado from scoring another run and Arenado whiffs to end the inning, but suddenly its just a two run game with the Cubs on top 6-3.

Brooks Brown, a C reliever comes in to work the 9th, and it was a pretty scary inning. Castro and Rizzo draw back to back walks, but once again Bryant hits into an inning ending double play, this time going 6-4-3. Unfortunately tonight’s game was another typical mile high comeback. Hector Rondon, an A reliever comes in for the save and gets two very quick outs, but Nick Hundley gets his second hit of the day with a double down the third base line and he scores soon afterwards when Paulsen rips a double into the left center gap. Maddon has decided that Rondon will finish the inning and the bullpen is not going even after Reyes hits a two run homer to left to tie the game at 6 each. Pinch hitter Brandon Barnes finally grounds out to end the inning as the Rockies take the field to a standing ovation as we enter the tenth inning.

Gonzalez Germen, a C reliever comes into the game and promptly strikes out Montero, but Chris Coghlan gets his second walk of the evening and Maddon calls for the hit and run. Jackson hits one right at the vacated spot when the second baseman goes to cover the bag and the Cubs have runners on the corners with just one out. Addison Russell hits a fly to center field that is fairly deep, but because Charlie Blackmon’s momentum took him away from the infield he was not able to make a play and the Cubs reclaim the lead 7-6. Rookie Kyle Schwarber gets his first big league at bat and hits a routine grounder to LeMahieu to end the inning and Justin Grimm gets the call to try and close this out.

Unlike Strop and Rondon, Grimm shuts down Colorado with a couple of pop ups and puts the exclamation point on a very strong outing by punching out Arenado to end the ball game. The Cubs are now 3-0 to start the season. Rondon, despite his bad outing actually gets the win and Grimm the save. Gonzalez Germen gets the loss.

Around the horn:

The Nationals defeated the Mets tonight, but despite the loss Matt Harvey gets 11 strikeouts.

The Padres win a wild game against the Giants 8-6. Yangervis Solarte went 4-5 and Jedd Gyorko hit the game winning homer in the bottom of the 9th.
Sonny Gray of the A’s did it all in route to a 4-0 complete game victory over the Mariners. He allowed just 2 hits while going 3 for 4 with 2 RBI himself.

[photo credit]