Hammel Falls Hard Against the Rockies in Blow-Out Loss for Cubs

That was enough ugly to last the entire season. Jason Hammel (13-6, 3.07 ERA), who entered today’s game with a 22 inning scoreless streak, got shelled in the first inning and gave up 7 runs on 6 hits, a walk and 2 errors. It was one of those complete implosion moments that happen in a long baseball season.

The Cubs couldn’t rebound, in fact it got worse. They drop the rubber match, and the series, to the Rockies. Final score was 11-4 (Box Score).

Jason Hammel was so much worse than we’ve seen him in a while. Every single pitch he threw, especially in the first inning, was soft, up and extremely hittable. It was one of those outings that, if I didn’t know better, would’ve made me think he had a nagging injury. He doesn’t that I know of, but that’s how bad he was.

The bright side is that Addison Russell had 2 home runs for the Cubs, so that was neat and fun. And Rob Zastryzny came on in relief and looked very good, striking out five over 2 2/3 innings.

Stats that mattered

• Hammel got bombed – 3.1IP, 10R/6ER, 10H, 2BB, 2Ks, 2HR
• Zastryzny pitched quite well – 2.2IP, 2H, 1BB, 5Ks
• The Rockies scored 11 runs on 14 hits and 3 walks

Bottom line

That was stinking ugly. Jason Hammel entered the game with a 2.75 ERA and now it’s over 3.00. And of course this happens right when everyone, including me, was noticing that maybe second half Jason Hammel wasn’t as bad as he used to be. Hopefully this game was blip on the radar screen and Jason gets back to dominating in his next outing.

Next up

The Cubs travel to San Diego on Monday to take on the Padres at 9:10 PM CT. A late one. Jon Lester (13-4, 2.86 ERA) will be pitching for the Cubs.