Cubs overcome sloppy play to beat Rockies
For Jon Lester, it didn't matter that he didn't get the win.
What mattered was the Chicago Cubs picked up a 3-2 victory Monday night over the Colorado Rockies in a sloppy game on the first consistently warm date at Wrigley Field this season.
If Lester couldn't get the win, he was just as happy that reliever Luke Farrell got it to earn his first big-league victory.
Even more important for the Cubs was that they took over first place in the National League Central. The victory, the Cubs' fifth in a row, moved them to 16-10 and put them one-half game ahead of the Pittsburgh Pirates (17-12), who fell to Washington.
Farrell is the son of former Boston Red Sox manager John Farrell, for whom Lester played.
"I've known him since he was 13, I think," Lester said of Luke Farrell. "I don't care who gets the win. The biggest thing is if we win, and obviously, when you get your first, that's an added bonus."
Farrell, a graduate of Northwestern University, worked 1⅓ perfect innings, taking over for Lester with two outs in the sixth.
"It's cool," said Farrell, claimed off waivers from the Cincinnati Reds last October. "I won't try and downplay it. To get your first win in the major leagues is an awesome thing and an achievement I appreciate fully."
Some uncharacterisctally bad Cubs defense forced Lester to throw 37 of his 106 pitches in the fifth inning.
The Cubs opened the scoring in the second. Ben Zobrist doubled down the left-field line and came in on Addison Russell's single.
The Rockies scored a pair of unearned runs in the fifth. Noel Cuevas bunted for a single before Pat Valaika walked. Pitcher Kyle Freeland bunted. Cubs catcher Willson Contreras pounced on the ball and threw hard to first base. Javier Baez, moving from second to cover, dropped the ball for an error to load the bases.
A single by Charlie Blackmon and a double by Nolan Arenado put the Rockies up 2-1.
Albert Almora's RBI single in the fifth tied the game. Kris Bryant made an error in the sixth to hasten Lester's departure. In the bottom of the sixth, Bryant tripled off the left-field wall and came home on Anthony Rizzo's groundout as first baseman Ian Desmond bobbled the ball.
Early work for Rizzo:
Anthony Rizzo was out Monday afternoon taking early batting practice. He entered the game batting .157 and having gone 1-for-14 against the MilwukeeBrewers over the weekend.
"He was very unlucky a couple games ago," manager Joe Maddon said. "I think that whole series was a little bad luck running in his direction. It's coming back. He's really good at what he does. I think he's been fouling his pitch off. Otherwise, he's fine."
Finally, a warm day:
Monday's gametime temperature of 80 was a far cry from the 46 on Sunday and the 43 on Saturday to go along with a 37-degree windchill.