CHICAGO (AP) — Pete Crow-Armstrong hit his 15th home run, Matthew Boyd tossed six innings of four-hit ball and the Chicago Cubs edged the Colorado Rockies 2-1 on Wednesday night for their fourth straight win.

Seiya Suzuki doubled in a run and rookie Matt Shaw had two hits for the NL Central leaders, who have won 10 of 12.

Boyd (5-2) allowed just an unearned run while striking out eight and walking none. Three relievers followed, with Daniel Palencia pitching a perfect ninth for his fourth save.

Tyler Freeman had a sacrifice fly for the Rockies, who lost their fifth straight and fell to 9-47 — the worst record in the majors.

Orlando Arcia, who signed with Colorado earlier in the day, singled in his first two at-bats with his new team. Arcia was released by Atlanta on Sunday after batting .194 in 14 games with the Braves.

Tanner Gordon (1-2) permitted two runs and six hits in 4 2/3 innings for the Rockies.

Boyd retired 13 of his first 14 batters. Arcia singled leading off the third.

Chicago jumped ahead 1-0 in the first on Suzuki’s double to the left-center wall. Crow-Armstrong made it 2-0 in the fourth when he golfed a low curveball down the right-field line.

Key moment

Boyd got through a shaky sixth and exited ahead 2-1. Chicago led 2-0 when Mickey Moniak led off with a single. Jordan Beck followed with a drive to left that Ian Happ caught at the wall. Moniak advanced to third on Boyd’s wild pickoff attempt and scored on Freeman's sac fly, caught by Crow-Armstrong against the center-field wall.

Key stat

Shaw is 13 for 34 (.382) since being recalled from Triple-A Iowa on May 20.

Up next

Rockies LHP Kyle Freeland (0-7, 5.86 ERA) faces Mets LHP David Peterson (3-2, 2.79) on Friday in New York.

The Cubs host Cincinnati on Friday. Neither team had announced a scheduled starter.

Arcia signs with Rockies, joins lineup as DH versus Cubs

CHICAGO (AP) — Infielder Orlando Arcia signed with the Colorado Rockies on Wednesday, and was in their lineup as the designated hitter against the Cubs in Chicago, three days after he was released by Atlanta.

The 30-year-old Arcia, an NL All-Star in 2023, was Atlanta's opening day shortstop this season, but lost the job to Nick Allen. Arcia was batting .194 with one RBI through 14 games when Atlanta designated him for assignment on May 23, then cut him.

Arcia appeared in a career-high 157 games for the Braves in 2024, hitting .218 with 17 home runs and 46 RBIs. In 2023, the Venezuela native batted a career-high .264 with 17 homers and 65 RBIs.

Colorado manager Warren Schaeffer said he told Arcia to “be ready to play all four infield positions” for the Rockies, who entered Wednesday worst in the majors at 9-46. He was batting seventh on Wednesday as Colorado tried to end a four-game slide and salvage the finale of a three-game series at Wrigley Field.

Arcia had appeared in just one game since May 10 with the Braves.

“I don't really have good answer for that,” Arcia said. “This is a business and things happen.”

The infielder, in his 10th season, was happy the Rockies signed him quickly.

“It wasn't a big decision," Arcia said though a translator. “I'm just going to take advantage of the opportunity and do the best I can."

Arcia added he's ready to play at any position and willing to help younger Rockies players.

“Just fight, every at-bat, every pitch, every play counts,” he said.

Arcia has .241 career average with 87 homers and 335 RBIs in 951 games with Milwaukee and Atlanta. His career fielding percentage at shortstop, where he’s played 843 games, is .975.

Von Miller hopes to continue his NFL career but doubts that'll be with his beloved Broncos in 2025

COMMERCE CITY, Colo. (AP) — Von Miller has conflicted feelings about the Denver Broncos honoring their Super Bowl 50 team during alumni weekend in October.

That Week 7 game with the New York Giants is when the late Demaryius Thomas will be inducted into the team's ring of fame during halftime ceremonies.

“I would love to be there,” Miller said Wednesday during an event for his charity, Von’s Vision, “but I hope to not be there.”

That's because the NFL's active sacks leader and 36-year-old free agent aims to be playing a 15th season in the NFL.

“I hope to not be there — unless I’m playing for the Giants or the Broncos," said Miller, who was released by the Buffalo Bills in March to free up salary cap space.

Although Miller has often talked about a reunion with Denver, where he starred from 2011-21, accumulating a team record 110 1/2 sacks, he doesn't think re-signing with the Broncos is realistic — at least not in 2025.

Asked if the Broncos had reached out to him or his agent, Miller said, "I haven’t heard anything. But I mean, if you look at it this year, it really doesn’t — it really doesn’t make sense. They got two really, really good rushers that are best in the league (in) Jonathon Cooper and Nik Bonitto, they are incredible rushers.

“And the guys underneath them, they come in, they produce sacks too, and they play special teams. I’m not playing special teams,” Miller added. “So they kind of — that decision kind of makes itself. I think at 36 years old, I can say that I probably won’t be doing that, But, yeah, just this year, probably not. But, you know, the year after that, next year, we’ll see what happens.”

Miller was traded to the Los Angeles Rams in 2021 and he added another Super Bowl ring that season to the one he won in Denver following the 2015 season. He spent the last three years in Buffalo but injuries prevented him from having the kind of impact he'd had previously.

The Bills released him in March because he was set to have a $23.8 million cap hit this season.

“Offseason’s been a little bit longer than I expected it to be, but that’s just how it’s supposed to be,” Miller said. “Whenever you have all this time, you reminisce and you think back about all these OTAs and these summer training sessions where you’re like, ‘Man, why I gotta be here? Why I gotta be here? OTAs, why I gotta do this?’ And now you’re sitting at home like, ‘Man, I wish I was at OTAs right now.’”

Miller said he's certain he'll play for somebody this season and if he has a productive year, he aims to play in 2026, too. Deep down, he hopes that's in Denver. He had high praise for the organization and said he'll always be a fan.

Miller, who has 129 1/2 career sacks, said he still has plenty to offer both in production and leadership.

“I’m a locker-room guy through and through, and I can still roll out of the bed and rush the passer," Miller said. “That’s what I got.”

Miller said it's hard to believe it's been a decade since he led Denver to its third Super Bowl title. Asked for his favorite memory of Thomas, that was it.

“When I think about D.T. going in the ring of honor, I think about him after the Super Bowl, everybody was happy,” Miller said. “That feeling. It lasted all summer. Summer of ’16 was incredible. And seeing D.T. happy and smiling is the picture that I have forever.”

New Nuggets coach David Adelman wants his team in tip-top condition and open to ideas

DENVER (AP) — Jamal Murray was located in the back of the room and so he heard the message first-hand from new Denver Nuggets coach David Adelman. Same with Julian Strawther, who took a seat in the front row.

For the players not in attendance at Adelman's introductory news conference Wednesday, a quick recap: Adelman wants everyone in even better condition and open to new ideas come training camp.

Because the Western Conference won’t be getting any easier, Adelman insisted. It’s up to the Nuggets to adjust behind a roster that revolves around three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic. Adelman wants his players to have a big voice, too, just like they did after he took over following the firing of coach Michael Malone and general manager Calvin Booth with three games left in the regular season.

"New ideas are good ideas,” Adelman said. “I have to give them something to come back to that excites them."

Adelman earned the promotion from interim to full-time head coach after a postseason run that saw the Nuggets get to a Game 7 against Oklahoma City in the second round before being knocked out of the playoffs. This with a thin bench and an injury-hampered starting five.

Now, the work begins to put his own stamp on directing the Nuggets. He's gathered a wealth of knowledge through an array of NBA coaching mentors such as his father Rick Adelman, Sam Mitchell, Frank Vogel, the late Flip Saunders and, of course, Malone.

“Very prepared,” Adelman said of his level of readiness. "When you're around those people and you see how they run their business and their process, it's kind of a cheat code."

Fitness, Adelman maintained, will be a key to a fast start — and health come playoff time.

“Teams that get off to great starts usually at the end of the year have the best chance of being healthy in these big games,” explained Adelman, who's working on rounding out his coaching staff. “But, yeah, that will be the expectation to come back in much better shape."

One of the areas the Nuggets aim to address in the offseason is depth. The Nuggets ran out of steam in the Thunder series after beating the Los Angeles Clippers in seven games to advance out of the first round.

“Can they achieve that (championship goal) as currently constructed? I think the answer, as (Jokic) said after the playoffs, and it was obviously no," Kroenke Sports & Entertainment vice chairman Josh Kroenke said. "So we need to take a hard look at how we can raise our ceiling going forward, whether that’s internally or externally.

“If you look at the teams still playing ... with a little bit of help, maybe a little bit of luck, maybe it could be us. But it’s not. We’re very conscious of that and how we need to go about improving.”

Kroenke shocked the league last month when he fired Malone, the winningest coach in franchise history, and Booth after they helped bring home the franchise’s first NBA title in 2023. It was Kroenke’s way to rejuvenate the team’s energy heading into the postseason.

Next up for Kroenke, hiring a new GM. For now, Ben Tenzer is overseeing the role on an interim basis.

The plan, Kroenke said, is to bring bring Adelman into the GM process at some point.

“The input will be relatively minimal," Kroenke said, "because what I’ll be looking for is cohesion between those two."

Added Adelman of the GM: "This business is about cohesion. It’s all about just moving forward and winning. That’s it. It’s not about finding your best friend.”

The Nuggets don’t have a pick in the upcoming NBA draft. It may prove challenging to add depth without breaking up the core of Jokic, Murray, Aaron Gordon, Michael Porter Jr. and Christian Braun.

That's where Denver's youth factors in and improvement from the likes of Strawther, Peyton Watson, Jalen Pickett and DaRon Holmes II, a first-round selection last year who tore an Achilles tendon in NBA Summer League.

“We’re hungry to get better,” Strawther said. “It’s all fuel to the fire."

As for the style of play, Adelman will add some wrinkles but defense will always be an important principle.

“We have to get back to being an execution-based team," Adelman said. "If that takes away some of our pace numbers, or whatever the analytics want to say, I think that’s OK if it wins you a game in May, as opposed to playing a game in December.

“The majority of the time, if you want to win big, you’ve got to play slow. You’ve got to be efficient. You've got to be clean. So that will be things we’ll talk about throughout the summer, going to training camp."