CHICAGO – Nyler Chatwood really had something to talk about after his performance at Wrigley Field.
Chatwood kept showing progress in his return from a second Tommy John surgery, pitching seven sharp innings as the Colorado Rockies slowed the Chicago Cubs 2-0 Sunday.
Nolan Arenado backed Chatwood (2-1) with two home runs.
Chatwood gave up two hits, struck out seven and walked one. He missed all of 2015 and most of 2014 because of his elbow injury.
“Got to be up there after the last two years, but the biggest thing is we were able to win a series against a really good team,” he said.
The Rockies took two of three for their first series win at Wrigley since 2011. The Cubs were trying to reach 10 wins in the first 12 games for the first time since 1969.
Chatwood, Miguel Castro and Jake McGee combined to hold the Cubs to three hits. Chicago had been averaging 6.45 runs per game, second in the majors.
“Chatwood was outstanding,” manager Walt Weiss said. “To shut down that lineup, it’s quite a feat.”
The Cubs tried to come back in the ninth. Jason Heyward doubled with one out and Anthony Rizzo was hit by a pitch with two outs before McGee struck out Kris Bryant for his third save.
Chatwood threw 100 pitches in his third start since April 29, 2014.
“I feel good when I’m out there,” he said. “I’m able to recover really well, which is big for me.”
Arenado hit a two-out homer into the left-field basket off Jon Lester (1-1) in the fourth and a two-out drive off Justin Grimm in the ninth. He has six home runs this season and seven career multihomer games.
“Today, I was really focused on staying back and staying on my back leg and it worked out,” he said.
The Rockies had four hits against Lester, who struck out 10 in 7 1-3 innings. He also led off the sixth with a double – his first career extra-base hit – to make him 5 for 100 at the plate.
“At the end of the day, I didn’t execute one pitch, and it ended up costing us,” Lester said.
Chatwood retired the first 14 hitters, striking out six, until Jorge Soler drew a two-out walk in the fifth. Javier Baez followed with a single for the Cubs’ first hit. David Ross grounded into a forceout to end the inning.
“I was able to locate my cutter, and fastball command was good to lefties,” Chatwood said.
