Another tough Germ\u00e1n M\u00e1rquez start was made harder by Dansby Swanson, whose three hits and six RBI led the way for the victorious Cubs.<\/p>\n
For what seems like the millionth time this season, the Rockies found themselves in an early hole. That was thanks to Nico Hoerner, who doubled with one out to set his teammate Dansby Swanson up to bring home the game\u2019s first run. He did more than that, smashing M\u00e1rquez\u2019s hanging curveball out into left-center field for a two-run blast, his 20th of the season.<\/p>\n
M\u00e1rquez once again saw the opposing team send the ball over the wall. It\u2019s the sixth straight start in which he\u2019s allowed at least one home run.<\/p>\n
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Swanson wasn\u2019t the only Cub to take a trot around the bases. The top of the fourth saw Ian Happ go yard for the 17th time in 2025, extending Chicago\u2019s lead to 3. Maybe that was to be expected when considering Happ\u2019s gaudy numbers versus M\u00e1rquez. Regardless, the two shots put Colorado in a tough spot early.<\/p>\n
Of all the Rockies that have made their debut this season \u2013 and there have been plenty \u2013 few have made the immediate impact that Yanquiel Fern\u00e1ndez\u00a0has. He continued to pad his solid early stats with another home run on Friday, this one a two-run shot in the bottom of the fourth to bring his team back within one.<\/p>\n
Amongst the many frustrations endured by Rockies fans this season, Fern\u00e1ndez\u2019s rise has been one of the most exciting. Has Colorado found a power bat to anchor its lineup into the future? We can only hope.<\/p>\n
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After Fern\u00e1ndez aimed to dig the Rockies out of the hole, the Cubs simply buried them deeper.<\/p>\n
When the top of the fifth inning began, M\u00e1rquez looked to keep the score difference at just one run. Instead, things went pear-shaped. Two singles and a walk loaded the bases for Pete Crow-Armstrong, who brought home a run on a sacrifice fly. Ian Happ then continued his strong showings against M\u00e1rquez by doubling home two more, increasing the Cubs advantage to 3. Another walk would finally chase M\u00e1rquez from the game.<\/p>\n
Jaden Hill entered hoping to stop the bleeding, but Swanson welcomed him with a triple, clearing the bases and putting Chicago up 8-2. A final Matt Shaw RBI single brought home the Cubs\u2019 ninth run before the inning mercifully ended.<\/p>\n
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Colorado\u2019s lineup would need to muster up some magic if they hoped to get back in this one. Germ\u00e1n M\u00e1rquez\u2019s final pitching line: 4 1\/3 innings, during which he allowed eight runs on nine hits, three walks, and no strikeouts. Yeesh.<\/p>\n
Even if the game seems out of reach, you still gotta take your at-bats. That\u2019s the rule of baseball, after all, and despite the contest\u2019s outcome seemingly written in stone, it was good to see the Rockies put together productive AB\u2019s.<\/p>\n
The bottom of the seventh opened with singles from Ezequiel Tovar and Hunter Goodman. Brenton Doyle then doubled to bring home Tovar, while Goodman scored on Kyle Karros\u2019 subsequent sacrifice fly to bring the Rockies their fifth run.<\/p>\n
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The eighth then saw Fern\u00e1ndez double (seriously, how good is this guy?) before scoring on Kyle Farmer\u2019s seventh home run of the season \u2013 off of #oldfrind Drew Pomeranz, no less!<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, even these late gasps of life weren\u2019t enough to overcome such a large deficit. Though Doyle walked and Karros singled to open up the bottom of the ninth inning, Warming Bernabel rolled into a rally-killing double play and Fern\u00e1ndez\u00a0flew out to end the game. The Rockies went 2-for-18 with runners in scoring position, and left 10 men on base.<\/p>\n
McCade Brown (0-1, 9.82 ERA) will make his second career start in game two of the series with the Cubs, who will counter with Javier Assad (0-1, 3.86 ERA).<\/p>\n
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That game begins at 6:10pm MDT. See you then!<\/p>\n
Please keep in mind our<\/em>\u00a0Purple Row Community Guidelines\u00a0when you\u2019re commenting. Thanks!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Swanson\u2019s six RBIs spearheaded a potent Chicago offense<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":85526,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[3371,391,286,139,992,2228,3372,3373,200,3375,2613,3376,3370,936,227,1086,3369,3374],"class_list":["post-85525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb","tag-brenton-doyle","tag-colorado","tag-colorado-rockies","tag-cubs","tag-dansby-swanson","tag-drew-pomeranz","tag-ezequiel-tovar","tag-hunter-goodman","tag-ian-happ","tag-jaden-hill","tag-javier-assad","tag-kyle-farmer","tag-marquez","tag-matt-shaw","tag-nico-hoerner","tag-pete-crow-armstrong","tag-the-rockies","tag-warming-bernabel"],"yoast_head":"\n