Chicago Cubs send Hendricks to the mound in series opener versus Rockies

The Chicago Cubs (77-43) begin a 10-day West coast road trip tonight against the Colorado Rockies (58-63).

At 14-2 in August and 18-3 in their last 21 games, The Cubs look to keep their second half rampage alive against a Rockies team that took two of three games from them at Wrigley in mid-April.  Chicago is coming off a four-game sweep of the Milwaukee Brewers and is 34 games above .500 for the first time since September 2008.

Kyle Hendricks (11-7, 2.19 ERA), touting the third-lowest ERA in the majors, hasn’t allowed more than three runs in a start since May 22^nd.  In his last start—Saturday against St. Louis—Hendricks allowed two runs on five hits in seven innings and collected a season-best 12 strikeouts.

Hendricks is 3-6 with a 3.43 ERA on the road this year and 4-5 with a 2.31 ERA at night.  In his last outing against the Rockies, Hendricks went six innings, giving up four runs, three earned with five strikeouts in a 6-1 Cubs loss.

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The Cubs have won both of Hendricks starts at Coors Field.

Lefty Tyler Anderson gets his first career start against the Cubs this evening. On the season, Anderson is 4-4 with a 3.42 ERA—the lowest ERA for a Rockies starter through 12 starts in team history.

Anderson’s last start ended abruptly against the Philadelphia Phillies when home plate umpires Eric Cooper ejected him for plunking Maikel Franco to begin the fourth inning. That ended Anderson’s streak of eight straight starts in which he pitched at least six innings.

In eight starts at home this season, Anderson is 4-1 with a 3.04 ERA.

The Rockies offense has been struggling lately, losing 12 straight before taking the final two games of their series at the Washington Nationals. The team is slashing .303/.520/.893 at home this year, and .272/.460/.799 against NL clubs.

The Cubs offense looks to stay hot at a hitter-friendly park behind Kris Bryant and Jorge Soler. Since the All-Star break, Soler is slashing .333/.727/1.116 and is tied for second most home runs on the team with four.

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Bryant, who leads the team in home runs since the break, is hitting .325/.528/.940 and looks to continue his success in away games. On the road, Bryant is hitting .318/.592/1.009 with 15 home runs and 43 RBI.

Both Bryant and battery-mate Anthony Rizzo have come up in NL MVP conversations this season.

“We’ve obviously put ourselves in a good position to have that chatter,” Rizzo said. “But we still have to go out and play every day and do what we do.”

First pitch is scheduled for 7:40 p.m. central time and will air live on CSN, 670 The Score. The Cubs and Rockies lineup for the game looks like this: