Denver: Nolan Arenado broke out of a slump in a big way, hitting two homers and driving in six runs on Sunday to boost the Colorado Rockies over the Chicago Cubs 11-4.
Arenado hit a three-run homer during a seven-run burst in the first inning that included three Cubs errors, then added another three-run drive in the fourth.
Arenado leads the majors with 104 RBIs — he had a big league-high 130 last year — and tops the NL with 32 home runs. The All-Star third baseman was 1 of 16 on the Rockies’ homestand before getting four hits. He passed Cubs slugger Kris Bryant for the NL homer lead.
Jorge De La Rosa (8-7) tossed eight innings, giving up a pair of home runs to Addison Russell.
In Cincinnati, Chase Utley homered on the fourth pitch of the game, 20-year-old Julio Urias won his third straight decision and Los Angeles beat Cincinnati 4-0 to end a three-game losing streak.
Los Angeles moved into the NL West lead, a half-game ahead of San Francisco.
Utley connected against Anthony DeSclafani (7-2) for his third home run of the trip and 11th this season, then had an RBI single in the third and scored on Cory Seager’s hit for a 3-0 lead. Utley homered twice Tuesday at Philadelphia, his former team.
Urias (4-2) allowed six hits, struck out six and walked none, throwing 62 of 97 pitches for strikes. He didn’t allow a runner past first base until the sixth inning despite giving up two hits in an inning three times. Urias picked off Jose Peraza at first and got Ivan De Jesus Jr. to ground into a double play.
Noah Syndergaard and Jeurys Familia combined on a three-hitter and Yoenis Cespedes homered off Jeff Samardzija, leading New York past San Francisco 2-0.
Cespedes homered for the third time in two days to help split the four-game series. It also was the 900th victory of manager Terry Collins’ career, making him the 10th active manager to reach the milestone.
