DENVER — With a wealth of experience under his belt, Jon Gray has learned how to handle tough situations. 

Sometimes it works out perfectly, like in the second inning Wednesday when he easily escaped a two men on bases situation. He came back the next inning to strike out the side, using a slider and two curves to get the job done.

But he still has his moments, like in the fifth inning when he allowed the bases to get loaded. With a 3-2 count, Patrick Wisdom smashed Gray’s slider into left field, and Raimel Tapia narrowly missed making a highlight-reel play. Gray got a little slider heavy, and Wisdom knew to expect another one close to the plate. Gray said he wished he had changed up the location, or thrown a different pitch in that spot. 

“There was bad and good tonight,” Gray said. 

The Cubs scored three runs there, and the Rockies’ offense wasn’t able to add any support for the starting pitcher. The Cubs beat the Rockies 3-2, evening the series ahead of the finale Thursday.

Gray rarely will admit that he had a solid night after a start — he always feels like there’s something he has to grind through. But this one was one he was OK with, as he felt good about his curveball. 

“But it’s also going to fuel myself for the next one,” he said. “I think it’s going to be a booster.”

Earlier in the season, it was cramps, and he chalked it down to not eating a banana before his start. Now he consumes one every day, sometimes two on days he starts. He doesn’t have a detailed food schedule like other pitchers do, but has found the balance of how much food he needs to eat to make sure he has enough energy. Gray also added more carrots and fish into his diet.

In his last start, when he allowed two runs on four hits, he said his secondary pitches weren’t as sharp as he wanted. They were spot on Wednesday though, and he used his slider and his curveball to earn his six strikeouts. The extra power for his slider came earlier this season when he was on the injured list, as he worked on loading the weight on his back leg and not falling to the plate.

The Rockies’ only offensive production came in the first inning, when Tapia, still wearing an extra padding in his shoe to protect his sprained right toe, hit a leadoff double. Brendan Rodgers followed with a deep double to send Tapia home. Trevor Story had a groundout RBI later in the inning to give the Rockies their second, and last, run. Cubs’ starter Alec Mills stumped them after the first inning, especially with his off-speed pitches. 

“We just couldn’t get the barrel on it,” manager Bud Black said. “We just couldn’t seem to solve him after the first inning.”

There were several miscues for the Rockies on defense, with Story missing a throw to first. It’s not uncharacteristic anymore — he’s made the same mistake multiple times in the past weeks. Elias Díaz, usually spot on, overthrew to third but was saved by a Gray strikeout to end the inning. Díaz made up for it though, throwing out two baserunners Wednesday.