Chicago, IL – After waiting more than a year, a two-hour, 23-minute rain delay probably felt like nothing for Chris Volstad.
Following the lengthy rain delay, Volstad took the mound and earned his first victory since July 10, 2011, leading the Chicago Cubs to a 5-0 win in a rain- shortened rubber match against the Colorado Rockies.
"It's only fitting that the day took pretty long," Volstad said.
Volstad (1-9) tossed 6 2/3 scoreless innings, holding the Rockies to three hits and three walks to snap a string of 24 consecutive winless outings.
Darwin Barney knocked in two runs for the Cubs, who have won two of three on the heels of a four-game losing streak.
Jhoulys Chacin (1-4), in his second start after returning from a three-month stint on the disabled list with a pectoral injury, was a hard-luck loser. The right-hander allowed one run on five hits in five innings.
The Cubs took the lead in the second inning. Starlin Castro crushed a long triple to right-center field. After Brett Jackson walked, Barney grounded into a fielder's choice to score Castro and put the Cubs ahead, 1-0.
Castro worked a leadoff walk in the sixth and moved to third on a pair of groundouts. Barney blooped a single into shallow center field to double the Cubs lead.
Meanwhile, Volstad crusied. He faced the minimum through three innings and did not allow a runner to reach scoring position until Tyler Colvin grounded a two-out double down the third-base line.
Following the double, Volstad walked Chris Nelson to end his day, but Manuel Corpas retired Jonathan Herrera to end the threat.
The Rockies put together a threat in the eighth inning against Shawn Camp. DJ LeMahieu delivered a two-out double and Jordan Pacheco sent a Shawn Camp slider to the warning track, but Jackson made the catch and held the Rockies scoreless.
Chicago added insurance runs in the ninth on pinch-hitter Joe Mather's sacrifice fly and Will Harris' wild pitch, which scored Jackson, and David DeJesus' RBI single.
During the eighth inning, the rain resumed and the game was called after the completion of the frame. Camp was awarded his second save of the year for his work in the eighth inning and Volstad picked up the win.
"We didn't hit today," Colorado manager Jim Tracy said. "You certainly would have liked to have those baserunners and force Chris to pitch out of the stretch a little more often than he did."
Game Notes
Volstad had gone 0-14 with a 5.54 earned run average since his last win ... Volstad's 24-start winless streak is the sixth-longest in the Live Ball Era ... At 6-8, Volstad became the tallest Cub to ever win a game ... Jo-Jo Reyes won on May 30, 2011 to end a 27-game winless streak that began in 2008. In that span, he pitched for the Atlanta Braves and Toronto Blue Jays ... The Rockies went 0-for-2 with runners in scoring position and left six on base.
Receive your weekly recap of all the happenings around the world of sports.