DENVER – DJ LeMahieu was ready to swing for the fences in his next at-bat. The weather spoiled his plans.
LeMahieu had three hits and finished a home run short of the cycle, Wilin Rosario went deep and the Colorado Rockies beat the Chicago Cubs 10-5 in a rain-shortened game Tuesday night.
The teams played in a constant drizzle throughout the game with temperatures hovering in the low 50s. The game was delayed in the middle of the seventh and called 48 minutes later.
Had the rain held off, LeMahieu was ready to try for the cycle.
"If it's still a 10-5 lead I'm definitely going to try to go for it," he said.
Matt McBride homered and Chris Nelson had three hits for the Rockies, who won a matchup of 94-loss teams. Carlos Torres (5-3) got the win after allowing one run in two innings of relief.
Colorado won its second straight after dropping nine in a row. The Rockies' bats stayed hot, pounding out 15 hits. It's the sixth consecutive game they've had double-digit hits.
"The job that our young kids are doing offensively is beyond impressive," Rockies manager Jim Tracy said. "Ten runs and 15 hits in six innings of offense is a pretty good night's work."
LeMahieu stood out among the hitters. He led off the third with a triple, doubled in the fourth and singled in the fifth.
"(Anthony) Rizzo, when I got that base hit, says 'cycle alert,'" LeMahieu said.
He never got the chance to complete the cycle. The rain became heavier and after Alfonso Soriano flew out to end the top of the seventh the tarp came on.
"The outfield's going to be wet and you're not going to be able to make any throws, but the main thing was that infield," Rockies center fielder Tyler Colvin said. "It's muddy."
Dave Sappelt and Starlin Castro homered for the Cubs, who have lost seven of eight. Chicago is five losses shy of its first 100-loss season since 1966.
Colorado left-hander Jorge De La Rosa made his second start after missing nearly 16 months following Tommy John surgery to repair a torn ulnar collateral ligament. He struggled through three innings, allowing four runs — two earned — and five hits.
"You don't expect him to be pinpoint sharp," Tracy said. "You want to see him throw pain-free, which he is doing."
Colorado's offense took him off the hook.
Trailing 5-3, the Rockies rallied to take the lead in the fourth. LeMahieu drove in a run with a double and Josh Rutledge's two-run double down the left field line made it 6-5.
Chicago starter Chris Rushin (1-3) allowed six runs on seven hits in 3 2-3 innings.
"When I fell behind, they capitalized on my mistakes," Rushin said. "And that's pretty much what happened on all my extra-base hits. I left the ball up an when I did, they capitalized on it."
McBride hit a three-run homer off Rafael Dolis in the fifth to make it 9-5.
Sappelt led off the game with his first major league home run. The Cubs scored two more runs in the first on shortstop Rutledge's throwing error and Wellington Castillo's double.
Rosario's 27th homer of the year leading off the second made it 3-1. Castro hit a solo shot to center in the fourth to give the Cubs a 4-1 lead.
Colorado cut the lead to 4-3 in their half of the fourth on Colvin's two-run triple to right.
"To score that many runs early and then just give it right back, you're not going to win many road games giving up that many hard hit balls and balls out of the ballpark," Cubs manager Dale Sveum said.
NOTES: Sappelt's home was his first in 153 major league at-bats. ... An MRI on Rockies OF Carlos Gonzalez's left hamstring was negative. Gonzalez didn't start for the eighth straight game while he nurses the tight ligament. ... Colorado OF Dexter Fowler (left wrist tendinitis) was out of the lineup for the third straight game.
