(Photo credit score: Christopher Hanewinckel-Imagn Images)
The Colorado Rockies are heading for his or her eighth dropping season in a row, however there have been some brilliant spots for the franchise.
Catcher Hunter Goodman continues to play at an all-star degree and right-hander Tomoyuki Sugano is displaying to be a shrewd signing. Sugano (5-4, 3.98 ERA) will make his thirteenth begin for Colorado when it hosts the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday night time in Denver to open a three-game collection.
Colin Rea (5-3, 4.59) can be on the mound for Chicago.
Sugano, 36, signed with Baltimore in December 2024 after pitching 12 seasons in Japan and was 10-10 in 30 begins in 2025. The Rockies signed him in February and he has been a steadying piece in a rotation that has handled accidents and inconsistency.
Tuesday can be his second profession begin in opposition to the Cubs; in his first outing, which got here with the Orioles on Aug. 2, 2025, he allowed three runs on 5 hits over 5 innings and did not issue into Baltimore’s 4-3 win.
He’ll possible be pitching to Goodman, who’s placing up spectacular numbers in his second full season as Colorado’s high catcher. Last 12 months, he was the staff’s lone consultant on the All-Star Game and completed the 12 months with 31 homers and 91 RBIs.
His 17 house runs this 12 months are on tempo to surpass final season’s complete, however he is additionally including one other device — stealing bases. He has 5 this season, two within the final week, and feels he could make a distinction.
‘I’m not going to steal a base each sport, however when there’s the chance, when a pitcher’s sluggish or after they’re not likely paying consideration, I really feel like I’ve the power to at the least reap the benefits of that,’ Goodman advised the Denver Post.
Chicago can be coping with a hobbled pitching workers, and the newest harm got here Sunday when starter Jameson Taillon left a loss to San Francisco with a left hamstring pressure.
Rea has escaped harm to date whereas showing in 13 video games — 10 begins — in his second stint with the Cubs. He has made 9 straight begins and is going through the Rockies for the fourth time in his profession. In the earlier three outings — all begins — he’s 1-0 with a 2.60 ERA in opposition to them, and his lone win got here in Denver.
Chicago will want one other good outing from Rea whereas its offense tries to discover a groove. Since May 1, the Cubs are twenty fifth within the majors in runs scored (134), and their .219 batting common ranks among the many worst in baseball. They are 7-20 since a 10-game successful streak.
The struggles on the plate are unfold all through the staff — Pete Crow-Armstrong is the main hitter at .258 — however veteran Alex Bregman, who signed a five-year, $175 million contract within the offseason, took accountability for the offensive woes.
‘I’ve had loads of alternatives with runners in scoring place and I should be higher,’ Bregman advised reporters after the loss Sunday. ‘Plain and easy. I should be higher for this staff. They introduced me right here to play good baseball and I have never performed good baseball. I have to determine it out.’
–Field Level Media