Patrick Wisdom hit a go-ahead, two-run homer in the sixth inning and the Chicago Cubs held on to win 4-3 on Sunday to complete a three-game sweep of the Colorado Rockies on their final homestand of the season.
Chicago (82-74) trailed 3-1 after 5 1/2 innings, but Seiya Suzuki led off the bottom of the sixth with a double against Rockies starter Ty Blach (3-3). He went to third on Dansby Swanson’s single and scored on Yan Gomes’ sacrifice fly.
Wisdom then sent a drive well up into the left-field bleachers for his 22nd home run, which gave the Cubs a one-run lead and ended the day for Blach, who allowed four runs, six hits, three walks and hit two batters over 5 1/3 innings.
Rookie Jordan Wicks (4-1) yielded a two-run homer to Brendan Rodgers and a solo shot to Nolan Jones, plus two other hits over six innings for the Cubs, who took all three from the Rockies (56-99) to remain in wild-card position in the NL after losing two of three at home to Pittsburgh this week.
The Cubs didn’t put a ball in play against Blach until seventh-place hitter Gomes roped a pitch into the left-field corner in the second. However, it was enough to score Suzuki (two hits) – who had drawn a leadoff walk– from first base for a 1-0 Chicago lead.
Wicks, though, gave up that edge in the third. He surrendered an inning-opening double to eighth-place hitter Austin Wynns, who eventually came home on Rodgers’ second home run this season.
Jones made it 3-1 when he went deep into the left-center field bleachers in the sixth. However, the Rockies managed just five hits. Chicago reliever Julian
Merryweather (two saves) walked the first two batters of the ninth but retired the next three to send Colorado to a seventh straight defeat.
The Rockies, who set a club record for single-season defeats, also finished 2023 with nine consecutive losses on the road, where they went 22-59.
–Field Level Media