| Scoreboard | ||||||||||||
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Chi. Cubs (58-51) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 17 | 3 |
| Colorado (61-50) « | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | x | 11 | 14 | 1 |
DENVER -- Todd Helton's power numbers may be down, but his batting stroke is just fine.
Helton had three hits to extend his hitting streak to 14 games, Dexter Fowler scored three times and the Colorado Rockies beat the Chicago Cubs 11-5 on Sunday.
Helton, who averaged 33 home runs a year in his first eight full seasons in the major leagues, has only 11 this year, but he's hitting .323 -- just five points below his career average -- with 65 RBI.
"He is in a very good place and swinging the bat really well," Rockies manager Jim Tracy said. "We've been trying to get traffic on the bases in front of this guy."
Lately, rookies Carlos Gonzalez and Fowler have been setting the table atop the order. Sunday they were on base a combined six times and scored four runs
"I try to do the little things," said Gonzalez, who had three hits. "Get on base for guys like Helton and [Troy] Tulowitzki and [Brad] Hawpe."
In the first inning Gonzalez and Fowler reached and Helton followed with an RBI single to spark a three-run rally. Fowler led off the fifth with a single and scored on Helton's double down the right-field line.
Helton had two doubles, a single and knocked in two runs as he established the second longest hitting streak of his career and longest since July 2003.
"Things are pretty good when you're getting some hits and you're not hitting the ball that hard," said Helton, who scored the 1,200th run of his career Sunday.
• Rockies: Cook to skip next start
The Cubs were hitting the ball, they just weren't cashing in on their opportunities. Milton Bradley went 4 for 5 and Koyie Hill had three hits for Chicago, which had a season-high 17 hits but stranded 13.
"We got our hits today but we just couldn't push the runs across," Jake Fox said.
Manager Lou Piniella wasn't around to watch most of the game. Piniella was ejected for the second time this season after a heated argument with second-base umpire Chris Guccione over his call in a disputed second-inning double-play. Piniella argued that second baseman Clint Barmes wasn't on the bag on the relay throw from third, which would have allowed Jeff Baker to score and cut Colorado's lead to 3-1.
"I don't know how you can miss it," Piniella said. "Look, obviously he was wrong, OK. We'll leave it at that. I don't know if [the game] turned on that or not, but assuming the call is made right, and we get another base hit, the ballgame is tied and you don't know what can happen," Piniella said.
Chicago starter Randy Wells (8-5) was 7-1 in his last eight starts before Sunday, but Colorado jumped on him early. After Helton singled in the first run of the game, Gonzalez came home on Tulowitzki's single to left and Helton scored on Hawpe's double-play groundout to make it 3-0.
The Cubs made it 3-1 in the third on Kosuke Fukudome's bases-loaded single, but Colorado starter Jason Hammel (7-6) retired Alfonso Soriano on a soft liner to second and struck out Baker to limit the damage.
"At that point in the game things could have been much different," Hammel said. "Things were still in doubt and it could have gone either way."
Hammel yielded three runs on 11 hits and struck out four in six-plus innings. After going 0-3 with a 5.76 ERA in July, Hammel is 2-0 in August.
Fowler scored on a wild pitch to make it 4-1 in the third, but Bradley got the run back with an RBI double in the fourth. Fowler scored his third run on Helton's one-out double in the fifth.
The Cubs cut it to 5-3 on Hill's RBI single in the sixth, but Colorado chased Wells during a three-run sixth that made it 8-3, and added three more in the seventh.
Wells, who had lost once since June 12, surrendered seven runs on eight hits, struck out three and walked to in 5 2/3 innings.
"There's not a whole lot to say. They swung the bats well. I didn't pitch well," Wells said. "I guess just chalk this one up as a tough day, forget about it, and come back and start a new run."
Chicago tied a season high with three errors. ... Cubs 3B Aramis Ramirez was out of the lineup with a sore left shoulder. Piniella said he will be evaluated Monday. ... Rockies manager Jim Tracy said RHP Aaron Cook (right big toe) will have his start pushed back from Tuesday to Saturday to give the toe more time to settle down.
| Players of the Game |
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| Chicago Cubs | ||||||||
| Hitters | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | LOB | AVG |
| Ryan Theriot, SS | 5 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | .295 |
| Milton Bradley, RF | 5 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .266 |
| Derrek Lee, 1B | 5 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | .290 |
| Jake Fox, 3B | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | .297 |
| Kosuke Fukudome, CF | 5 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | .275 |
| Alfonso Soriano, LF | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | .250 |
| Sam Fuld, LF | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .269 |
| Jeff Baker, 2B | 5 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | .197 |
| Koyie Hill, C | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .220 |
| Randy Wells, P | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .156 |
| Jeff Stevens, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Aaron Heilman, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| a- Aaron Miles, PH | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .198 |
| John Grabow, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| b- Mike Fontenot, PH | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .228 |
| Totals | 42 | 5 | 17 | 4 | 0 | 9 | ||
| a-grounded out for Heilman in the 8th | ||||||||
| b-grounded out for Grabow in the 9th | ||||||||
| Batting | ||||||||
| 2B - Milton Bradley (11, Hammel), Derrek Lee (21, Morales), Jake Fox (9, Hammel), Kosuke Fukudome (25, Fogg), Jeff Baker (5, Hammel) | ||||||||
| 3B - Jeff Baker (2, Hammel) | ||||||||
| SH - Randy Wells 2 (6) | ||||||||
| RBI - Milton Bradley (28), Derrek Lee (74), Kosuke Fukudome (40), Koyie Hill (15) | ||||||||
| 2-OUT RBI - Milton Bradley (9), Derrek Lee (27) | ||||||||
| Team LOB - 13 | ||||||||
| Fielding | ||||||||
| DP - Baker-Theriot-Lee, Theriot-Baker-Lee | ||||||||
| E - Koyie Hill (3, Throwing), Derrek Lee (4, Misplayed grounder), Alfonso Soriano (9, Throwing) | ||||||||
| Chicago Cubs | ||||||||
| Pitchers | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA |
| Randy Wells (L,8-5) | 5.1 | 8 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 3.01 |
| Jeff Stevens | 1 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 7.36 |
| Aaron Heilman | 0.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4.50 |
| John Grabow | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3.14 |
| IBB - Torrealba by Randy Wells | ||||||||
| HBP - Barmes (by Jeff Stevens) | ||||||||
| WP - Randy Wells (2) | ||||||||
| Pitches-Strikes - Randy Wells 101-59, Jeff Stevens 38-23, Aaron Heilman 8-7, John Grabow 18-12 | ||||||||
| Ground Balls-Fly Balls - Randy Wells 10-3, John Grabow 1-1 | ||||||||
| Batters Faced - Randy Wells 26, Jeff Stevens 9, Aaron Heilman 2, John Grabow 4 | ||||||||
| Colorado Rockies | ||||||||
| Hitters | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | LOB | AVG |
| Dexter Fowler, CF | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | .265 |
| Carlos Gonzalez, LF | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .283 |
| Todd Helton, 1B | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .323 |
| Garrett Atkins, 1B | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .227 |
| Troy Tulowitzki, SS | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | .266 |
| Josh Fogg, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .167 |
| Brad Hawpe, RF | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .313 |
| a- Ryan Spilborghs, PH-RF | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .246 |
| Ian Stewart, 3B | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | .229 |
| Clint Barmes, 2B | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .245 |
| Yorvit Torrealba, C | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .242 |
| Jason Hammel, P | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | .125 |
| Matt Daley, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| b- Seth Smith, PH | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .296 |
| Franklin Morales, P | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | .400 |
| Omar Quintanilla, SS | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .186 |
| Totals | 36 | 11 | 14 | 9 | 4 | 7 | ||
| a-fouled out for Hawpe in the 8th | ||||||||
| b-doubled for Daley in the 6th | ||||||||
| Batting | ||||||||
| 2B - Carlos Gonzalez (8, Grabow), Todd Helton 2 (33, R. Wells, Stevens), Brad Hawpe (30, R. Wells), Seth Smith (10, Stevens) | ||||||||
| RBI - Carlos Gonzalez (8), Todd Helton 2 (65), Troy Tulowitzki (53), Clint Barmes (54), Yorvit Torrealba 3 (13), Seth Smith (30) | ||||||||
| 2-OUT RBI - Carlos Gonzalez (3) | ||||||||
| SB - Dexter Fowler (26, 3rd base off R. Wells/Hill) | ||||||||
| CS - Carlos Gonzalez (1, 2nd base by Stevens/Hill) | ||||||||
| Team LOB - 6 | ||||||||
| Fielding | ||||||||
| DP - Stewart-Barmes-Helton | ||||||||
| E - Omar Quintanilla (2, Misplayed grounder) | ||||||||
| Colorado Rockies | ||||||||
| Pitchers | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA |
| Jason Hammel (W,7-6) | 5 | 11 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 4.66 |
| Matt Daley (H,8) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3.06 |
| Franklin Morales | 2 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2.11 |
| Josh Fogg | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2.17 |
| HBP - Fox (by Jason Hammel) | ||||||||
| Pitches-Strikes - Jason Hammel 70-49, Matt Daley 13-8, Franklin Morales 43-27, Josh Fogg 22-12 | ||||||||
| Ground Balls-Fly Balls - Jason Hammel 3-7, Matt Daley 1-0, Franklin Morales 1-3, Josh Fogg 2-1 | ||||||||
| Batters Faced - Jason Hammel 26, Matt Daley 3, Franklin Morales 11, Josh Fogg 5 | ||||||||
| Game Information |
| Attendance - 40217 |
| Game Time - 3:06 |
| Temperature - 76 |
| Umpires - Home - Bill Welke, First Base - Jim Reynolds, Second Base - Chris Guccione, Third Base - Angel Campos |
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