Michael Busch notched his first career multi-home run game, fellow rookie Pete Crow-Armstrong also went deep and the Chicago Cubs beat the Colorado Rockies 6-2 in Denver on Sunday.
Busch finished with three hits and three RBIs, while both Nico Hoerner and Ian Happ had two hits for Chicago.
Kyle Hendricks (4-11) allowed one run on two hits in six innings to earn his first victory for the Cubs since July 31. The right-hander walked three and struck out seven. Hendricks was 0-2 over his last six starts but helped Chicago (76-73) snap a three-game losing streak and keep its slim National League wild-card hopes alive.
Jacob Stallings homered for Colorado (57-93), which managed just four hits on the day. The Rockies had their three-game winning streak snapped.
Colorado starter Cal Quantrill, activated from the 15-day injured list (right triceps inflammation) before the game, struggled with his control, and it cost him in the third inning. Quantrill issued a pair of one-out walks to Cody Bellinger and Isaac Paredes, and Busch followed with an RBI single to put the Cubs up 1-0.
Paredes came home on Hoerner’s ensuing infield single to make it 2-0. Hoerner stole second before Quantrill issued his sixth walk of the game, which put Crow-Armstrong on first to load the bases.
Jeff Criswell came on and struck out Miguel Amaya and escaped more damage when Brenton Doyle made a leaping catch of Happ’s drive to the wall in center to end the inning.
Quantrill (8-10) allowed two runs on four hits in 2 1/3 innings. He walked six and fanned two.
Stallings cut the deficit in half when he led off the bottom of the third with his ninth home run of the season. Busch restored the Cubs’ two-run advantage in the seventh inning with a 438-foot homer into the second deck in right.
Busch stretched the lead to 4-1 in the ninth with his second homer and 20th of the season, a 468-foot shot to right-center field. Hoerner followed with a double and Crow-Armstrong homered to left field, his 10th of the season.
The Rockies loaded the bases with nobody out in the ninth against Keegan Thompson and got a run on Nolan Jones’ groundout. Tyson Miller relieved Thompson to secure his first save this season.