Early homers propel Rockies to skid-ending win over Cubs

Hunter Goodman and Ezequiel Tovar homered as the Colorado Rockies beat the Chicago Cubs 7-3 in Denver on Tuesday.

Edouard Julien had two hits and drove in three runs, Willi Castro finished with three hits and Kyle Karros had two hits for Colorado, which snapped a four-game losing streak.

Tomoyuki Sugano (6-4) allowed three runs on six hits in five-plus innings for the Rockies. He struck out three and walked two.

Michael Busch homered and Alex Bregman had two hits and an RBI for Chicago, which has lost six of its past eight games.

Colorado jumped on top in the first inning against Colin Rea. TJ Rumfield was hit by a pitch with two outs, and Goodman followed with his team-leading 18th home run of the season to make it 2-0.

Tovar expanded the Rockies’ lead when he led off the second with his fifth long ball of the season, and the hosts tacked on two more in the frame. Karros hit a one-out single, Julien drove him home with a double and Jake McCarthy followed with an RBI single.

Chicago got one back in the third against Sugano. Dansby Swanson led off with a double, Pete Crow-Armstrong and Busch walked to load the bases, and Swanson scored on Bregman’s sacrifice fly.

Colorado responded in the bottom of the inning. Goodman led off with a walk and went to third on Troy Johnston’s double. Rea fanned Tovar and Cole Carrigg before walking Karros. Julien then laced a two-run single to center to make it 7-1.

Rea (5-4) lasted 4 2/3 innings, allowing season-high totals of seven runs and nine hits. He walked three and fanned two.

The Cubs cut into the lead in the sixth inning. Busch led off with his seventh homer of the season, and Bregman singled. Seth Halvorsen relieved Sugano and walked Ian Happ, then threw a wild pitch that moved the runners to second and third with no outs.

Bregman scored on Seiya Suzuki’s groundout, but Halvorsen got out of the jam with two consecutive groundouts.

–Field Level Media