Colorado Rockies Win 7-2 Behind Solid Spot Start From Yohan Flande

Jun 30, 2014; Washington, DC, USA; Colorado Rockies starting pitcher Y. Flande (58) pitches during the first inning against the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports

The Colorado Rockies and Chicago Cubs met Tuesday night for the second game in their three-game set at historic Wrigley Field on the north side of Chicago.

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Yohan Flande had a lead before he ever started the game, and he never looked back, throwing five innings of one-run ball on short notice behind a Colorado Rockies club that held off the Chicago Cubs for a 7-2 victory on Tuesday night at Wrigley Field on the north side of Chicago.

It was Flande’s first start of the season, and the first win of his Major League career.

The Rockies put up four first-inning runs off Cubs’ starter Dallas Beeler, started off by back-to-back doubles from Charlie Blackmon and DJ LeMahieu, and continued with an RBI double from Nolan Arenado, and an eventual RBI groundout from Nick Hundley.

When the dust settled after one half of an inning, even starter Yohan Flande had come to bat, as nine Rockies came to the plate with four scoring before the team ever took the field.

In the bottom of the first, Flande took the hill with his four-run cushion, but wasn’t as sharp as he could have been, allowing two walks and eventually giving up an RBI single to Jorge Soler, but he got out of it with just the one run allowed, and the Rockies took a 4-1 lead into the second.

Beeler would get lifted in the second inning in favor of Travis Wood, while Flande settled down into the game and threw up zeros for several innings after that.

Neither team would score again until the top of the fifth inning, when the Rockies put up a run on an RBI groundout from Corey Dickerson that brought home LeMahieu, who had tripled to lead off the inning off Wood.

Flande, meanwhile, made it through five full innings only allowing the first inning run. His final line included four hits and three walks over five frames, but he did strike out four Cubs’ hitters and left in line for the win in a 5-1 game.

From there, good bullpen work by the Rockies and a two-run eighth inning gave the club the insurance runs they needed, and the game was never really in doubt, finishing 7-2 and handing the Rockies the win in their first game since trading Troy Tulowitzki.

The Rockies and Cubs return to action Wednesday at 12:20 pm MT for the third and final game in the series, which will be thrown by Eddie Butler and Jon Lester. From there, the Rockies begin a four-game set in St. Louis against the Cardinals starting on Thursday night.

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