The Colorado Rockies and the Chicago Cubs played a close game for the first six innings, though the Cubs held a 3-1 lead at that point. When Felipe Paulino relieved Jason Hammel in the seventh inning, the game went downhill from there. Paulino allowed back-to-back singles to start the inning before surrendering a three-run home run to 21-year-old shortstop Starlin Castro.
Additional runs scored that inning on an Aramis Ramirez RBI single (Darwin Barney crossing the plate, having reached on a double) and a Kosuke Fukudome RBI single as well. The Cubs led 8-1 at that point. Franklin Morales allowed the Fukudome RBI play, but all five runs were charged to Paulino. Other than the inherited runner scoring, Morales threw 1 2/3 innings of three-hit ball.
In the eighth inning, the Rockies finally showed some offensive life again. After Ian Stewart walked, Chris Iannetta hammered a ball to left field for a home run, making the score 8-3. However, with two men on base, Jason Giambi struck out swinging to end the inning.
Rockies starter Jason Hammel allowed three runs (Alfonso Soriano RBI single, home run, Darwin Barney ground out) in six innings. However, his fastball was not working, and he had to rely on his changeup and curveball far too much.
The Rockies scored their first run of the game in the second inning when Troy Tulowitzki tripled and then crossed home plate on a Seth Smith sacrifice fly. Tulowitzki came out of the game for the last inning (nothing wrong, just time for some rest), which moved Jonathan Herrera over to short and gav backup Jose Morales some playing time at second base. The last out of the top of the ninth was a ground out to Morales, who barely got the throw to first base in time.
This was the Rockies' first loss this season in nine innings.
The Rockies (11-3) conclude their series with the Cubs (7-7) on Sunday afternoon with a 1:10 p.m. MT game. Alan Johnson makes his major league debut, while the Cubs trot out Ryan Dempster.