CHICAGO (AP) – Peter Lambert allowed four hits over seven innings and struck out nine to win his major league debut, helping the Colorado Rockies beat the Chicago Cubs 3-1 on Thursday.
A 22-year-old right-hander selected in the second round with the 44th overall pick of the 2015 amateur draft, Lambert retired 11 straight batters before Kris Bryant doubled with one out in the sixth. Bryant scored on Javier Baez’s two-out single.
Lambert (1-0) walked one and threw 63 of 95 pitches for strikes, ending his outing by striking out the side in the seventh. He set a Rockies record for strikeouts by a pitcher in his debut.
He also singled on his first pitch as a big league batter, using a two-tone bat to loop a fastball from Jose Quintana (4-5) to right-center field.
Lambert was 2-2 with a 5.07 ERA in 11 starts this season at Triple-A Albuquerque.
Jairo Diaz pitched a one-hit eighth and Scott Oberg threw a perfect ninth for this third save, completing a five-hitter.
Colorado rebounded after losing the first two games of the series. Chicago’s NL Central lead was cut to a percentage point over second-place Milwaukee.
Quintana dropped to 0-4 in his last six starts, giving up three runs and six hits in 7 1/3 innings. He has not won since beating St. Louis on May 5.
Colorado took a 2-0 lead in the third when David Dahl hit an RBI single and scored on the first of Ian Desmond’s two doubles. Chris Iannetta hit a sacrifice fly in the seventh after Desmond doubled and Bryant lost Mark Reynolds’ fly in the sun, allowing the ball to drop for a double.
