CHICAGO — With 2015 National League Cy Young Award winner Jake Arrieta on the mound Saturday afternoon at Wrigley Field, the Rockies’ chances for victory looked improbable.
When Arrieta struck out the side in the first inning, showing that he had his best stuff, Colorado’s mission became almost impossible.
Arrieta proceeded to pitch eight scoreless innings and Chicago beat the Rockies 6-2, halting Colorado’s three-game winning streak and dropping its record to 6-5. The Cubs improved to 9-2, their best mark through 11 games since 1969.
“We knew it was going to be a challenge,” said Colorado rookie shortstop Trevor story, who stuck out three times against the Cubs’ right-handed ace. “We were excited about it, but he’s a tough guy to face. I guess we’ll just wait to see him next time.”
Rockies manager Walt Weiss knew early on that Arrieta was in Cy Young form.
“His fastball was explosive right out of the gate,” he said. “When he’s commanding his fastball, he’s tough.”
Arrieta, now 3-0 with a 1.23 ERA, wasn’t just tough, he was brilliant. He gave up just five hits, struck out eight and walked only one. Chicago has won his last 16 regular-season starts, the longest streak in franchise history since at least 1913, according to the Cubs. Chicago has outscored its opponents 81-20 in those 16 games.
Here’s some more history: Arrieta extended his franchise record for consecutive quality starts to 23, the longest streak in the majors since St. Louis Hall of Famer Bob Gibson pitched a major-league record 26 consecutive quality starts during the 1967-68 seasons.
Still, Arrieta was not thrilled with his outing.
“My timing was just OK today,” he said. “I was throwing a lot of breaking balls for strikes early. Using a good mix to keep them off balance. When I’m able to establish those off-speed pitches early it’s easier for me later in the game to go to them when I need them,
“So that was a big thing today — establishing a mix early on in the game and keeping them off balance.”
Carlos Gonzalez prevented a shutout, hitting a two-run homer in the ninth off reliever Travis Wood. Gonzalez has a 21-game hitting streak, dating back to last season.
Rockies right-handed long reliever Christian Bergman, filling in for injured starter Jon Gray, pitched a fine game. He tied a career high with seven strikeouts and walked just one in his five innings of work. The Cubs had only four hits against Bergman, but two were back-to-back monsters.
Anthony Rizzo led off the fourth with a homer to right, blasting Bergman’s first-pitch curveball into the right-field bleachers. Then Jorge Soler stepped to the plate and hit the first pitch he saw — also a curveball — to deep right-center.
“I liked what we were thinking there, but I just didn’t execute the pitches,” Bergman said. “Both of those guys are aggressive and I wanted to try and slow them down a little bit.’
Suddenly, a scoreless game turned lopsided, because with Arrieta on the mound at Wrigley, a 2-0 lead is like a four-touchdown lead. He has now pitched 48 consecutive scoreless innings at the Friendly Confines, dating back to Aug. 1. Arrieta has a career 1.94 ERA there.
Former Rockies center fielder Dexter Fowler put the game out of reach with a three-run homer off reliever David Hale in the seventh.
Patrick Saunders: psaunders@denverpost.com or @psaundersdp
THREE UP:
1. Washington Nationals: Bryce Harper has hit 101 career homers, and young righty Joe Ross has allowed just one earned run in 14 innings.
2. Baltimore Orioles: Mark Trumbo went yard twice in one inning Friday night for the homer-happy Birds.
3. Chicago Cubs: The Rockies’ Chad Bettis stopped Chicago on Friday, but the North Siders are deep and talented. They had a plus-38 run margin entering Saturday’s game.
THREE DOWN:
1. Minnesota Twins: Their 0-9 start was the worst in franchise history. Minnesota finally beat the Angels on Friday night.
2. Atlanta Braves: Atlanta was outscored 52-24 while losing its first nine games, and only Colorado had a worse team ERA to begin the season.
3. San Diego Padres: Even throwback brown uniforms can’t help the Padres. They fell to 0-4 at home Friday night, blowing bases-loaded chance in the ninth.
