Colorado Rockies morning after: 3 things we learned from the Cubs series

He did not hit a pair of homers, including the go-ahead two-run blast in the fifth inning. He did not get the victory in relief. In fact, he did not even earn the save for the Colorado Rockies.

Jhoulys Chacin did not do any of the above on Thursday afternoon in the series finale between the Rockies and Chicago Cubs at Coors Field.

What Chacin did do, though, was toss two scoreless innings of relief — surrendering no hits — during a key juncture of the game to help the Colorado Rockies hold on for a 6-5 victory against the Cubs before a crowd of 30,462.

Coupled with a win on Tuesday night, Colorado captured the three-game series between the two National League opponents, giving the Rox their 11th series win of the 2021 season. Of the 11, all but one series win has come at home.

But, as with many of the Rockies’ series victories this year, this one did not come easy.

Buoyed by the return on the mound of Antonio Senzatela following MLB COVID and contact tracing protocols, Colorado jumped to an early 4-0 lead through four innings.

In those first four innings, Senzatela struck out six consecutive Cubs hitters at one point before Chicago rallied to score four runs off the right-hander in the top of the fifth inning to knot the game at 4-4 and end Senzatela’s first appearance since July 7.

Colorado manager Bud Black called on Tyler Kinley (the eventual winner) to relieve Senzatela and, after Kinley allowed two hits and a run to open the sixth inning, Black summoned Chacin from the bullpen for the second straight game with the Rox leading 6-5.

Chacin responded by retiring six of the seven batters he faced, giving up only a walk to Rafael Ortega to start the seventh inning.

His scoreless effort extended to 10 his current string of scoreless outings this season, the longest such streak of his 10-year MLB career.

Black noted the impact Chacin has had on the team’s bullpen.

"“Today was huge what he did,” the manager said. “He pitched last (Wednesday) night, so coming on back-to-back days, I asked him to go a couple of innings.“He has shown a knack to make pitches at the most critical junctures,” Black added. “He has made a pitch or has got an out which is a knack of a quality pitcher. Is it going to happen all the time? No. But so far when we have inserted him into these type situations, and that is what we have been doing lately, he has responded. Again, It tells you a lot about the guy. It tells you about his poise on the mound, his pitchability. … He is just a heady, veteran, dependable pitcher.”"