Colorado rookie rocks in big-league debut vs. Cubs

There was little else the Chicago Cubs could do Thursday other than tip their caps to a rookie pitcher making his big-league debut.

And that's what they did after falling 3-1 to Peter Lambert and the Colorado Rockies at Wrigley Field.

Pitching in his first big-league game, Lambert went 7 innings and gave up 4 hits and 1 run while walking one and striking out nine. Lambert also singled on the first big-league pitch he saw as a batter.

The Cubs' starter, Jose Quintana, wasn't so bad, either. He worked a season-high 7⅓ innings, giving up 6 hits and 3 runs with no walks and 4 strikeouts.

The Rockies salvaged the final contest of the three-game series and halted the Cubs' winning streak at three.

"It's great for him," Quintana said of Lambert. "He made his MLB debut; that's amazing."

Quintana turned in his seventh quality start of the season as he fell to 4-5 with a 3.77 ERA.

The Rockies scored twice in the fourth, getting a double from Trevor Story, an RBI single from David Dahl and a run-scoring double from Ian Desmond. The Cubs got their run in the sixth. Kris Bryant doubled with one out and later came home on Javier Baez's single.

Desmond doubled with one out in the seventh. Bryant, playing right field, lost Mark Reynolds' flyball in the sun for a double that moved Desmond to third. He scored on Chris Iannetta's sacrifice fly.

"Both sides pitched well," said Cubs manager Joe Maddon, whose team fell to 34-27. "Their third run scored on a ball in the sun. Otherwise, both offenses were kind of held in check. Their young pitcher, I thought, did a nice job. He's a pitcher. He's very composed, variety of pitches.

"Our guy, I thought pitched really well, also. He got that deeply into the game. It was just one of those days. We could not mount an attack."

As for Lambert, he was thrilled.

"What a great day at Wrigley Field," he said. "It was awesome. I don't think it's all sunk in."

Nothing new on Zobrist:

Joe Maddon reiterated that he's not assuming that infielder-outfielder Ben Zobrist won't be back with the Cubs even if he has to operate that way.

Zobrist has been on the restricted list since May 8 as he deals with family problems.

"I think it's like anybody's guess, really," Maddon said of Zobrist. "It's him as a family man, him worrying about his kids, making sure this all comes together properly for them. It's all honorable on his side. Whatever he decides to do, we're definitely going to be on board with it. Of course you'd love to have him back.

"My point earlier is that we have to be mentally prepared that he's not going to (be back). That doesn't mean that he's not going to."