Rockies explode early, roll past Cubs 7-3

DENVER — Rockies Report, Game 67:

Goodman’s homer — his 18th of the season — ignited the Rockies, who burst to a 5-0 lead after two innings and a 7-1 advantage after three. Ezequiel Tovar added a leadoff homer in the second inning off Cubs starter Colin Rea, who allowed a parade of Rockies to reach base, ultimately surrendering nine hits, three walks with a hit batter over 4 2/3 innings.

Edouard Julien had a massive night at the bottom of the order, finishing 2-for-4. He delivered an RBI single in the second and a 2-RBI single in the third inning, scoring Goodman and Troy Johnston to push the Rockies’ lead to a comfortable six runs.

Cole Carrigg made his major-league debut and went 1-for-3 with a walk. His first major-league base hit was a sliding, one-out fifth-inning triple. Carrigg earned his promotion from AAA Albuquerque after posting a 338/.414/.529 line.

“It couldn’t have been a better first hit for a player like that,” manager Warren Schaeffer said. “Super exciting just watching him run around the bases like a young colt. Impressive. Fun. Happy for him, happy for his folks and all the people that came to watch him. That was vintage Cole Carrigg.”

Colorado improved to 25-42 and snapped a four-game losing streak.

ROCKIES STARTER’S REPORT

Tomoyuki Sugano’s xERA, per Statcast, is a whopping 7.62. And he spent much of his five-plus innings dancing out of trouble, as he allowed leadoff hits three times, while also needing a 4-6-3 double play in the first inning after yielding a one-out single to Moisé Ballesteros.

But he continued to escape fiery situations, and despite dealing with plenty of traffic in the second and third innings, the only home run he allowed was of the solo variety, ensuring that Colorado’s early outburst stood up.

“It’s been a while since I last pitched at Coors but I was able to keep my pitches down — and minimize damage today,” Sugano said through an interpreter.

Sugano settled down midway through the game, hurling clean innings in the fourth and fifth before allowing a leadoff homer to Michael Busch and a single to Alex Bregman in the sixth, ultimately ending his night after 93 pitches. But Seth Halvorsen limited the damage from there; he allowed a walk to Ian Happ and fired a wild pitch, but only Bregman scored, ensuring the Cubs drew no closer than what would be the final 7-3 margin.

BITS AND PIECES

IT WAS DECIDED FOR THE ROCKIES WHEN: Reliever Antonio Senzatela got Nico Hoerner to line out to right field with two outs in the eighth inning.

NUMBER TO NOTE: 1.242 — Goodman’s slugging percentage over the last 11 games.

WHAT’S NEXT: Michael Lorenzen looks to reverse his dreadful Coors Field form so far this season in the second game of the series Wednesday night. Shota Imanaga will start for the Cubs. First pitch is slated for 6:40 p.m. MDT.