Luis Valbuena homers, Cubs fall to Rockies 6-4

Chicago Cubs (44-62) infielder Luis Valbuena launched home run number eight, a two run shot during the bottom of the eighth to tie the game at 4-4 but were unable to walk away with the victory in extras.

Catcher and last night’s winning pitcher John Baker got his team on the board with an RBI double to left field in the bottom of the fifth inning to make it 3-1 Rockies. Colorado (44-63) managed to jump out to yet another 3-0 lead over the Cubs early on receiving run support from Justin Morneau, Charlie Culberson, and Charlie Blackmon off lefty Travis Wood.

Wood (7-9, 5.10 ERA) finished tonight’s ballgame with 11 strikeouts, two walks, four earned runs, and eight hits given up across six innings of work before he was replaced by Justin Grimm. The bullpen did an excellent job across three innings, holding the Rockies to just two hits until Wesley Wright took over during the 10th inning. Brandon Barnes singled on a sharp ground ball to left fielder Chris Coghlan, driving in young infielder Nolan Arenado to give his team the 5-4 advantage late in the game.

Wright allowed the Rockies to extend their lead to 6-4 after letting a pitch get away from him with Culberson at the plate, resulting in Drew Stubbs coming across to score. Infielder Arismendy Alcantara fielded a ground ball hit by Culberson shortly after the wild pitch with one out, and made a play at the plate that would end up being reviewed. Baker applied the tag on Michael McKenry before he was able to place his hand on home plate while sliding feet first.

Valbuena was responsible for three of the four Cubs runs tonight, finishing the ball game 3-5 after becoming the games final out after Starlin Castro managed to get on base with two outs in the bottom of the 10th.

It’s also worth noting that Emilio Bonifacio did not play today, as it was rumored that the Cubs were working on a possible trade with multiple teams supposedly interested in acquiring him according to ESPN Chicago’s Jesse Rogers.

The Cubs and Rockies will play Game 4 of this series with the first pitch scheduled for 1:20 P.M. CT – the afternoon game between these two last place teams will be broadcast on CSN and WGN 720.

Probable pitchers are Jake Arrieta (5-2, 2.18 ERA) and Pedro Hernandez (0-0, 1.29 ERA) who will be filling in for Tyler Matzek who was supposed to pick up the start, but was used during Tuesday’s six and a half hour marathon.