Abbatacola: Sloppy Night, Sloppy Play By Cubs
By Matt Abbatacola--
CHICAGO (WSCR) The Cubs lost game one of their three game series with the Colorado Rockies 5-3.
It was a sloppy night for the Cubs. The rain never really stopped, leading to a muddy field and slippery baseballs. Those conditions led to four Cubs' errors and only one earned run of the Rockies total five runs scored.
The Cubs plated three runs in the first inning off of starter, Esmil Rogers. Darwin Barney hit a two run homerun after lead-off hitter Kosuke Fukudome singled to start the game. Fukudome went 5 for 5, all singles, raising his season average to .478 with an OBP of .571. The third run would come from an Alfonso Soriano sacrifice fly that scored Jeff Baker. Baker started at third for Aramis Ramirez, who had the night off. Baker continued hitting the well. He had two singles, a double, and was on base a fourth time with a walk.
After Cubs' starter, Matt Garza, sent the Rockies down in order in the first inning, he faced clean-up hitter, Troy Tulowitzki, to begin the second inning. Tulowitzki hit an easy groundball to shortstop, Starlin Castro, who mishandled the ball allowing the runner to reach on the error. Garza then struck out Todd Helton. A single by Seth Smith and two consecutive errors by Castro gave the Rockies their third and game-tying run.
In the Rockies fifth inning, Rogers singled and lead-off hitter, Dexter Fowler walked. Jonathon Herrera laid down a sacrifice bunt that Garza fielded on the wet grass. His throw was off target and allowed Rogers to score the game winning run. Colorado would add their fifth run on a groundout by Carlos Gonzalez. Garza eventually got through six innings of work allowing five runs, but only one of those runs was earned.
Outside of the Cubs' first inning offensively and defensively, Mike Quade said, "the rest of it was awful". His ballclub failed to make plays in the field and couldn't execute at the plate when needed. With no outs and two runners on base in the sixth inning, Darwin Barney was called on to sacrifice bunt. He chose instead to swing away out of the bunt because the corner infielders were "crowding" him, according to Quade. The play resulted in a pop-up to the Tulowitzki. In the clubhouse after the loss, Barney appeared to be very upset with his decision in that at-bat. "I take full responsibility", he said, "for our team not being back in that game."
Game two of this series is Tuesday night with a first-pitch of 7:05. The Cubs send James Russell (1-2 8.00) to the mound to face Jorge De La Rosa ( 3-0 3.00 in four starts) for the Rockies.
