The first two games between the Cubs and Rockies at Coors Field have resulted in a split, with the Cubs taking Thursday’s game by a score of 5-2 and the Rockies taking yesterday’s game 6-5.
The Cubs got a second straight good start out of Justin Steele in Thursday’s win, and that was followed by 3 ⅓ scoreless innings from Keegan Thompson to help close it out. Marcus Stroman looked good in his first road start as a Cub, but made a few mistakes in the fourth inning that led to five runs, resulting in the one run loss.
Mark Leiter Jr. will be making his first start since 2017 and it will be his first appearance in the big leagues since 2018. Leiter will be thrown right into the fire in his first start in nearly five years, pitching in the high altitude of Coors Field. He will face a Rockies lineup that has been hot out of the gates in 2022, leading the National League with a .275 batting average.
The Rockies big free agent prize Kris Bryant has gotten out of the gates hot with his new team. Bryant has at least one hit in all seven games the Rockies have played this season, with 11 hits in total. Bryant is still looking for his first home run of the season, and he would love to do that against his old team in front of his new fans. Bryant will bat third and play left field tonight. Here is how the rest of the Rockies lineup looks for the third game of the series:
Right hander Antonio Senzatela will toe the rubber for his second start of the season after giving up nine hits to the Dodgers last Sunday. Those nine hits resulted in four runs, although only one of them was earned. He will look to keep the traffic off the base paths tonight and go deeper into the game.
Seiya Suzuki got the night off in yesterday’s loss but returns today batting sixth and playing right field. Wilson Contreras continued his hot start to the season recording three hits and an RBI in the loss last night. He will handle the catching duties and bat third. And Patrick Wisdom will look to build off last night’s two hit performance after only one hit in the previous six games. Here is how the rest of the Cubs lineup looks for the tonight:
Leiter should have a short leash and a limited pitch count for this game so the Cubs will need to rely on their bullpen and their defense to prevent runs. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 PM on Marquee Sports Network.
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