Sterlin Thompson lined a pinch-hit single in the ninth inning to drive home the winning run, and the Colorado Rockies beat the Chicago Cubs 3-2 in Denver on Wednesday night.
TJ Rumfield homered among his two hits and Hunter Goodman and Ezequiel Tovar also had two hits for Colorado.
With the game tied entering the bottom of the ninth, Daniel Palencia (1-1) issued a leadoff walk to Troy Johnston. Brett Sullivan singled to right, putting runners on the corners, and Thompson came through with the game-winner for the Rockies.
Ian Happ homered for Chicago, which spoiled a strong start by Shota Imanaga and dropped its third straight. The Cubs managed just five hits in losing for the seventh time in nine games.
Colorado trailed 1-0 for much of the game before Rumfield’s two-run homer gave them the lead in the eighth. Happ tied it with his team-leading 15th home run leading off the ninth against Antonio Senzatela (6-0).
Rockies starter Michael Lorenzen cruised through the first three innings before Pete Crow-Armstrong tripled off the wall in right-center field to lead off the fourth. He scored on a groundout by Moises Ballesteros to give the Cubs a 1-0 lead.
Chicago threatened again in the fifth when Nico Hoerner blooped a one-out double to left field and Dansby Swanson walked but Kyle Karros made a leaping catch of Crow-Armstrong’s looping liner to keep it a one-run game.
Lorenzen gave up a run on two hits in five innings, striking out seven and walking two.
Imanaga worked five scoreless innings in his best outing in nearly a month. Imanaga allowed 26 combined runs in his previous four starts, which raised his ERA from 2.32 to 4.74.
He allowed a two-out base hit to Rumfield in the first inning and Goodman’s leadoff single in the fourth. He fanned seven and walked two.
The Rockies got something going in the sixth when Goodman and Tovar had consecutive two-out singles but Cole Carrigg fouled out to end the inning.
