The Rockies and Nationals entered Monday with 13 wins apiece, tied for the most in the National League. In the middle of the sixth inning, it looked like the top mark would be going to the Nationals. But after nine, the hot bats of the Colorado Rockies stayed hot and the Washington Nationals had their seven-game winning streak snapped. Colorado’s own winning streak now stands at four after defeating Washington 8-4 to open a four-game series at Coors Field between the early division leaders.
Carlos Gonzalez and Mark Reynolds each had a pair of hits and a pair of runs scored. Reynolds’ two-run home run in the sixth helped Colorado scratch back into a game they were trailing 4-1 at the time. Charlie Blackmon‘s two-run shot the next inning gave the Rockies a lead. Colorado strung together five straight singles in the eighth inning to score a pair of runs. Blackmon knocked in his game-high third RBI in the same inning to push the Rockies to an 8-4 advantage. Blackmon is riding a nine-game hitting streak.
Carlos Estevez earned the win by pitching 1.1 innings of scoreless, hitless relief, helping starter Tyler Anderson out of a troublesome sixth inning in which the Nationals scored all four of their runs. Anderson had been great before the sixth, allowing only two hits and striking out five up to that point. Adam Ottavino earned his ninth hold with a mostly uneventful eighth. (He allowed a single to bounce off his leg with two outs.) Closer Greg Holland didn’t earn a save, but he did have to work for the final out – a groundout to first by a pinch-hitting Bryce Harper with a pair of runners on base.
The Rockies improve to 14-6 on the season, one win better than the Nationals (13-6). Their series continues Tuesday at 6:40 p.m. on Tuesday. German Marquez (0-0, 0.00) was recalled from Triple-A Albuquerque to make his first start of 2017, pitching in place of the injured Jon Gray. Joe Ross (1-0, 3.86) will go for Washington in his second start of the season.
