Starlin Castro continues his early season hot hitting, leading the Chicago Cubs to an impressive 8-3 victory over the Colorado Rockies. Castro went 4-for-5 with 3 RBIs including a seventh inning three run homer.
“It’s good to see the power,” Cubs manager Mike Quade said in regards to Castro. “He’s been swinging the bat great, he’s running the bases, he’s doing so many things that are fun to watch.”
Castro’s batting average is now .397 and has an OPS of .971.
Castro wasn’t the only Cub that had a good night, pitcher Casey Coleman had a nice outing going 5 2/3 innings giving up only one run on four hits. Though, Coleman was later pulled from the game because he took a Chris Iannetta line drive off of his right foot. The injury isn’t believed to be serious.
The Cubs drew first blood in the top of the second; Alfonso Soriano drove in the first of his two RBIs for the evening with a double to left-center field that scored Carlos Pena.
The Rockies though were able to match that in the bottom half of the second with a Seth Smith RBI sacrifice fly that scored Troy Tulowitzki.
The Cubs would score once in both the fifth and sixth innings, including an Alfonso Soriano home run. The Rockies then pulled starting pitcher Jason Hammel and went to their bullpen for the seventh inning which would lead to five runs for the Cubs.
After Castro’s three run shot, Aramis Ramirez had an RBI single off of relief pitcher Felipe Paulino. Kosuke Fukudome, who returned to action for the first time in six days because of a left hamstring injury, had an RBI single of his own later in the inning that would give the Cubs a commanding 8-1 lead.
The Cubs bullpen was solid again for the rest of the game with the exception of lefty John Grabow, who’s had a rough start of the year with a 10.80 ERA. In the eighth, Grabow gave up a two run shot to left by Chris Iannetta and walked three batters. Kerry Wood relieved Grabow and got the final out.
After the Cubs failed to score in the top of the ninth, Carlos Marmol came in and finished the Rockies off in the bottom half of the frame.
The series conclusion is later this afternoon when the Cubs send Ryan Dempster to the mound against Rockies pitcher Alan Johnson.
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