Chicago Cubs Score and Recap (4/3/24): Cubs 9, Rockies 8 – Cubs Complete Sloppy Sweep at Soggy Wrigley

The Cubs were aiming for a sweep against the Rockies at a freezing cold and wet Wrigley Field Wednesday night. The home squad appeared to be on their way to another easy win but then Colorado stormed back to make it a game and forced Chicago to score one more run and hold on for an unexpectedly dramatic victory.

The Cubs got the offense started with a four-spot in the bottom of the 2nd inning punctuated by a two-run single from Seiya Suzuki. Suzuki increased the lead to 5-0 when he blasted a solo home run through the fierce winds in left-center.

Second home run in as many days for Seiya! 👏@suzuki_seiya_sb pic.twitter.com/9uHHlRSwmg

— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) April 4, 2024

Luke Little served as the opener for Chicago and then was replaced in the 2nd by Ben Brown, who did a pretty good job over four innings before coming out in the 6th. The Rockies would score two runs in that frame, including one on a Christopher Morel throwing error, to reduce the margin to 5-2.

The Cubs answered back in the bottom of the inning when Miguel Amaya singled with the bases loaded to score all three runs when center fielder Brenton Doyle threw the ball away. Charlie Blackmon doubled in the 7th to bring the score to 8-3 but it looked like things were pretty secure.

That changed significantly in the top of the 8th when Yency Almonte came on in relief and loaded the bases on two walks and a single. Héctor Neris quickly replaced him and gave up a two-run double to Jake Cave, after which things started going rapidly downhill. Nico Hoerner tried to make a glove-to-glove flip to first on a soft groundball from Blackmon and it went high, allowing a pair to score and make it a one-run game.

The Rockies completed the comeback when Ezequiel Tovar doubled home the tying tally before the third out was mercifully recorded. The Cubs got off the mat and were able to scratch out the go-ahead score after Miles Mastrobuoni reached on a dropped third strike and came home when Colorado catcher Jacob Stallings couldn’t handle a throw on a potential play at the plate on a Suzuki grounder to third.

Adbert Alzolay gave up a leadoff single to Kris Bryant but was able to get the next three outs to seal what turned out to be a very tense 9-8 win. (Box score)

Key Moment

It wasn’t pretty but Chicago was able to respond from the 8th inning collapse to get one more run on the board and win the game.

Why the Cubs Won

The offense was clicking early and quite frankly the Rockies are just really bad, which covered up for a lot of sloppy mistakes.

Stats That Matter

• Brown was wild at times but overall he did a very nice job: 4 IP, 1 R, 3 H, 5 K, and 1 BB.
• Michael Busch had three hits and a sacrifice fly and was hitting the ball hard all night Wednesday.
• Suzuki had three knocks of his own and is carrying his smoking hot spring into the regular season.

Bottom Line

The Cubs got a sweep, but they can’t be happy with what happened late on Wednesday. Being forced to compete in weather conditions that were borderline unplayable certainly didn’t help things. That said, they have to clean up their mistakes because defensive miscues and walks from the bullpen always lead to trouble. They were able to get away with it against a dreadful Rockies team but it won’t be the same story if they do something similar against the Dodgers this weekend.

On Deck

The aforementioned Dodgers come to Wrigley for three games starting Friday at 1:20pm CT. The Cubs haven’t announced the rotation for the series and Los Angeles is starting Bobby Miller in a contest airing on Marquee and 670 The Score.