Seiya Suzuki homered in his second straight game and drove in four runs and the Chicago Cubs regrouped to beat the Colorado Rockies 9-8 after blowing a six-run lead Wednesday night.
The Cubs looked as if they were on their way to another easy win with an 8-2 lead in the sixth after outscoring the Rockies by a combined 17-2 in the first two games. Colorado made a big push, scoring a run in the seventh and five in the eighth to tie it.
Pinch-hitter Miles Mastrobuoni reached on a wild pitch by Nick Mears (0-1) as he struck out leading off the bottom half. He took third on a single by Ian Happ and beat the throw home on Suzuki’s fielder’s choice grounder to third baseman Ryan McMahon to put Chicago back on top, 9-8.
Suzuki had three hits. Miguel Amaya drove in three runs, and the Cubs won their fourth in a row. The Rockies are 1-6, though they sure made things interesting in the eighth.
Jake Cave drove a two-run double to left against Héctor Neris (2-0). Two more scored when second baseman Nico Hoerner threw wildly to first fielding Charlie Blackmon’s single, and Ezequiel Tovar tied it with a double to deep center, just beyond a lunging Mike Tauchman.
Adbert Alzolay pitched around a leadoff single by Kris Bryant in the ninth for his first save.
Suzuki drove in two with a single to cap a four-run second against Rockies starter Cal Quantrill and greeted Jalen Beeks with a drive to left-center leading off the fifth on a cold and soggy night.
Amaya hit a sacrifice fly in the second and drove in two more with a bases-loaded single against Tyler Kinley in the sixth. Center fielder Brenton Doyle’s errant throw on the play allowed another run to score, making it 8-2.
Chicago's Luke Little, making his first career start, threw 14 pitches in a perfect first inning after recording the final three outs in Tuesday’s 12-2 romp. Little became the first Cubs pitcher to finish a game and start the next one since Rick Reuschel at San Francisco and at the Los Angeles Dodgers on May 2 and May 4, 1976. He’s the first to do it for Chicago against the same team since Warren Hacker on May 1-2, 1955 at Philadelphia, according to team historian Ed Hartig.
Quantrill threw 90 pitches in four innings, allowing four runs and four hits. The right-hander walked four and struck out three in his second start for Colorado following an offseason trade from Cleveland.
The Cubs have not announced who will start Friday, when they open a three-game series against Shohei Ohtani and the Dodgers. RHP Bobby Miller (1-0, 0.00) gets the ball for Los Angeles.
