Rockies can’t complete rally, fall to 0-5 against Cubs this season

Rockies Report, Game 136:

ROCKIES BOTTOM LINE: Mickey Moniak’s RBI triple kick-started a sixth-inning rally that pulled Colorado back within one run, but the Rockies drew no closer as they fell 4-3 to the Chicago Cubs in front of 47,394 at Coors Field on Saturday night.

Mickey Mo 😮‍💨 pic.twitter.com/4aiL8LbZPn

— Colorado Rockies (@Rockies) August 31, 2025

Moniak scored on a Hunter Goodman sacrifice fly, narrowing the deficit to what would be the final margin. Two batters later, Ezequiel Tovar singled for his second hit of the night.

But that would be all for Colorado’s offense, as Cubs starter Javier Assad got Kyle Karros to fly out to end the sixth-inning threat, then handed off matters to the Chicago bullpen, which mowed down the Rox in order in the final three innings.

The Rox also saw first baseman Warming Bernabel depart due to injury. Orlando Arcia replaced him after the third inning due to a knee and quad bruise. Bernabel apparently suffered the injury in the second inning when he fouled a ball off his leg.

“It didn’t look good when he did it,” interim manager Warren Schaeffer told media after the game.

Bernabel netted the Rockies’ first run when he came around to score while Yanquiel Fernández got hung up between first and second base after a second-inning single, tying the game at 1-apiece.

The Cubs reclaimed the lead with two runs in the fifth inning and another in the sixth.

Colorado is 38-98.

ROCKIES STARTER’S REPORT

Control was a problem for rookie McCade Brown in his second start, as he walked three batters and plunked two. He loaded the bases in each of the first two innings; it was a minor miracle he escaped with only one run allowed.

A curveball at the top of the zone that froze Pete Crow-Armstrong allowed Brown to get out of the first inning with only one run on the board; a slider that Seiya Suzuki harmlessly grounded back to Brown extricated the rookie from the second-inning jam.

But Brown had no such fortune when he took the mound for his fifth inning, two batters into his third trip through the Chicago lineup. He allowed a double to Kyle Tucker, then walked Suzuki. Four pitches later, Ian Happ turned on a changeup that caught the outside edge of the strike zone and lined it over Brenton Doyle’s head in center field, putting the Cubs back in front.

That ended Brown’s night; another run was charged to him after Jimmy Herget surrendered a sacrifice fly to Crow-Armstrong.

Brown lasted 1/3 of an inning longer than he did in his first start last week.

BITS AND PIECES

IT WAS DECIDED FOR THE ROCKIES WHEN: Karros swung and missed at a high 99.5-MPH fastball from Daniel Palencia for the game-ending third strike.

NUMBER TO NOTE: 8 — Losses for the Rox in their last nine games since a 7-2 run that represented their best stretch of the season.

WHAT’S NEXT: Tanner Gordon takes the mound as the Rockies try and salvage a game against the Cubs … and stop their four-game losing streak. Matthew Boyd will go for Chicago. First pitch Sunday is at 1:10 p.m. MDT.

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