Arenado’s 2 home runs, 6 RBIs power Rockies past Cubs

Perhaps even more important than the victory was the notion that the team’s biggest star may be finding himself after a brutal slump that had him hitting just 1-of-16 during the homestand entering Sunday’s game. He passed Cubs slugger Kris Bryant for the NL homer lead.

“I’ve been grinding, I haven’t really felt like myself, so to be up there, it’s a good feeling”, Arenado said.

Arenado credited Sunday’s results to his work with batting practice pitcher Garrett Carson late Saturday night.

As tempting as it might be for him to imagine having stayed to become a part of the Cubs’ talented young core, “I don’t really look at it like that”, said LeMahieu, who added how impressed he is with how quickly the Cubs turned a competitive corner after a complete tear-down and rebuild.

“We nearly got into an argument”, Arenado said.

“I wasn’t getting ahead as much as I should have been, and that obviously opened up a whole world of opportunities for them”, Hoffman said.

The two concluded Arenado was overstriding, and he went into Sunday’s game with renewed confidence.

“Best fastball command I have had all year”, Keuchel said. Sometimes when “De La” pitches, it can be a little bit on the slower side, but today he worked quick, he threw strikes and he did a really good job. In the fourth, Arenado belted another three-run homer off Hammel.

Arenado leads the majors with 104 RBIs – he had a big league-high 130 a year ago – and tops the NL with 32 home runs. De La Rosa struck out six and walked one. Russell was the only batter to reach second base against the lefty, who outpitched his former teammate.

Tony Wolters doubled home two runs, making him 5-for-7 with three doubles, one triple and 12 RBIs with bases loaded. Since the All-Star break, he is 6-0 with a 0.95 ERA.

As his second home run of the game sailed deep over the fence in left field and toward the packed concourse, Nolan Arenado seemed to take just a split second more than usual to admire the ball’s glorious, high-arching path.

Anthony Rizzo followed with a single, Zobrist’s double made it 2-0 and Miguel Montero beat the shift with a two-run single to right. Wood singled in his only at-bat, his first hit as a left fielder.

“Two hard-hit balls, one to (Ben) Zobrist, one to Bryant”, Hoffman said. “That was pretty much the story”.

Arenado’s one-out homer drove in David Dahl and DJ LeMahieu, who began the inning with singles.

The Cubs’ last run came when pinch-hitter Jorge Solar hit a foul popup between home and first and Rizzo ran in from third to an uncovered home plate.

Rockies: CF Charlie Blackmon was not in the starting lineup for the second straight game because of a bruised right toe. Manager Walt Weiss said Blackmon and would likely be back in the lineup for Monday’s game in Milwaukee.

LeMahieu, who had three hits after his 10-game hitting streak ended Saturday, hit his 10th homer in the eighth. No, it doesn’t feel as good as 6-0, but the Nationals and Cubs are two of the better teams in baseball this season, and the Rockies showed a lot of grit against them.

Russell hit solo homers in the fifth and seventh, and the Cubs scored two more off reliever Matt Careerist in the ninth. They’ll surely wash the stink of this very bad game off them before they get on a plane to head to San Diego, where they’ll open a three-game series Monday night against the Padres, and this one ought to be interesting.

Montgomery was solid in his first start since coming over in a trade with Seattle on July 20 but didn’t stick around long enough to earn the decision.

Trevor Cahill (3-3) got the win with 4 2/3 innings in relief of starter Mike Montgomery.