Seiya Suzuki homered and drove in four runs Wednesday night while Miguel Amaya added three RBIs as the Chicago Cubs blew a six-run lead before squeaking out a 9-8 win over the visiting Colorado Rockies.
The winning rally started in the bottom of the eighth when Miles Mastrobuoni struck out but reached first on a wild pitch. Ian Happ singled Mastrobuoni to third, and Suzuki followed with a grounder to third. Catcher Jacob Stallings couldn’t hang on to Ryan McMahon’s throw, and Mastrobuoni scored the go-ahead run.
Chicago’s Hector Neris (2-0) blew a save when he allowed five runs in the top of the eighth, two of the runs charged to him. Still, he wound up credited with the win. Advert Alzolay pitched the ninth to garner his first save, working around a leadoff single by Kris Bryant.
Nick Mears (0-1) absorbed the loss for the Rockies, who finished a season-opening road trip at 1-6, having lost the last four games. Starter Cal Quantrill allowed four hits, four runs and four walks in four innings, striking out three.
Chicago, which earned its fourth straight win, went with Luke Little as its opener and then brought Ben Brown in to start the second. Brown lasted four-plus innings, allowing just one run and fanning five, and was in line for his first major league win until the bullpen coughed up an 8-2 lead.
Colorado tied the game when Ezequiel Tovar ripped a two-out double to left, scoring Charlie Blackmon to cap its five-run eighth inning. The Cubs offered plenty of help in the inning with a pair of walks and a throwing error by second baseman Nico Hoerner on Blackmon’s infield single.
Chicago scored four runs in the second, getting sacrifice flies from Busch and Amaya as well as a two-run single from Suzuki. In the fifth, Suzuki upped the margin to 5-0 by clouting his second homer, a solo shot to left-center field.
Bryant’s first hit in 19 at-bats this season, an RBI single, got the Rockies on the board in the sixth. Blackmon went 3-for-5 with two RBIs, and Bryant wound up with two hits.
–Field Level Media
