The Colorado Rockies beat the Chicago Cubs, 4-3, on Saturday afternoon behind home runs from Josh Rutledge and Andrew Brown.
With the Rockies trailing 3-0 in the fifth inning, Josh Rutledge pinch-hit for starter Alex White, who had reached his pitch count limit, and hit a two-run homer off of Cubs starter Brooks Raley. In the following inning, Andrew Brown tied the game with a solo shot off of former Rockie Manuel Corpas, who was saddled with the loss.
The Rockies would plate the eventual winning run in the seventh inning, as Carlos Gonzalez beat out the back-end of a possible double play, which allowed DJ LeMahieu to score from third. Meanwhile, four relievers, led by piggy-backer Carlos Torres, kept the Cubs scoreless as Colorado's bats went to work. Torres was awarded with the win.
White allowed two earned runs on five hits in four innings, striking out four and walking one. He allowed a two-run homer to Brett Jackson. White and Raley, who went five innings and allowed two runs on five hits while striking out four, did not figure into the decision.
The rubber match will take place at 12:20 p.m. MT on Sunday. Jhoulys Chacin (1-3, 6.16 ERA) will look to build on a successful return to the rotation for the Rockies, while Chris Volstad (0-9, 6.88) will be aiming for his first win of 2012 for the Cubs.
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