CHICAGO — The Peter Lambert Era began Thursday in a highly convincing fashion. Yes, folks, it appears all the hype about the 22-year old Rockies’ rookie right-hander is true.

In his major league debut, the team’s pitching prospect dazzled, showing poise, power and an impressive array of pitches with seven innings of one-run ball in a 3-1 Colorado victory over the Cubs.

“I was more calm than I expected out there,” Lambert said. “I thought I’d go out and feel the heart pumping a little bit, but I was all right … I went out there every inning and just tried to get ahead of the hitters and get out one.”

Lambert, who also recorded his first major league hit, set a franchise record with nine strikeouts in a debut. He showed excellent fastball command from the outset and used his “plus” changeup in conjunction with a serviceable curveball and slider to keep Chicago hitters off-balance.

“What an impressive outing,” Rockies manager Bud Black said. “He stayed calm, stayed under control, and he really pitched with a fastball, change and breaking ball combo. He used behind-the-count change-ups, high fastballs, fastballs down and away at the knees.”

Boxscore

Perhaps the most impressive part about his first big league start came when he wasn’t dominating the Cubs’ deep lineup. A one-two-three first inning led to Lambert’s first stress test in the second, when he struck out Cubs pitcher Jose Quintana with the bases loaded to escape a jam.

“That’s what I thought up in my head of what the outcome of his debut was going to be,” said second baseman Brendan Rodgers, who came up with Lambert through the minors as part of the 2015 draft class. “It gave me chills watching him get out of some of those jams. That’s what he does — he grinds, he attacks hitters and he gets soft outs.”

In the third, the Lambert highlight reel continued, only this time offensively. He roped the first pitch he saw, an elevated Quintana fastball, into right-center for a single. By that time he had the full attention of Cubs manager Joe Maddon.

“He’s a (true) pitcher, and he’s very composed with a variety of pitches,” Maddon said. “And he’s a good athlete, too. When he swung the bat, if you watch his mechanics, it’s outstanding.”

Meanwhile, Colorado got on the board first with a two-run fourth that started with Trevor Story’s leadoff double. David Dahl’s single scored Story, and Ian Desmond’s two-out double brought Dahl around.

Lambert looked strong even as the Cubs nicked him for a run in the sixth inning to cut the score to 2-1. Kris Bryant’s one-out double set the table, and Javier Baez’s two-out single off a hanging curve brought him home. But Lambert struck out Willson Contreras swinging to end the inning.

“He was able to take the game he’s been pitching in Triple-A and bring it to the big leagues,” Maddon noted. “He had a 10-punchout performance in Vegas a few starts ago, and I’d imagine it looked a lot like that. A fastball with a down angle, a really good changeup that plays off it, and the curve and slider.”

Colorado added a run in the seventh via Chris Iannetta’s sacrifice fly, and after that, Black pulled pinch hitter Daniel Murphy back from the on-deck circle with two outs to send Lambert back up to bat. He popped out, but no worries: Lambert proceeded to strike out the side in the bottom of the inning, with his final pitch, a 94-mph heater, blowing away Daniel Descalso.

“It was a no-brainer to sent him back out,” Black said. “Each inning, the pitches were down as far as the amount. He maintained his delivery, maintained his fastball. When he went back out there, he saw the finish line, and he kicked it into gear by punching out the side.”

Jairo Daiz then worked around traffic in the eighth, and Scott Oberg shut the door on Lambert’s first career win with a perfect ninth for a debut that Lambert said “hasn’t sunk in yet”.

Lambert’s cool demeanor wasn’t lost on his teammates, either, as the outing gave Rockies fans reason to believe he could be at least part of a viable answer to Colorado’s issues on the back end of the rotation this summer.

“He was ready — he wasn’t scared and he embraced the moment,” Story said. “Hopefully he can pitch like that all year. You can tell he has that quiet confidence about himself, and he’s a big-time competitor. We all see that.”