Rockies blunder their way through the heat in 4-1 loss against Gonzalez and Nationals

Gio Gonzalez mastered all but one of the Rockies hitters, and the pitching and fielding was bad enough on the other end of the game to send Colorado to a 4-1 loss against the Washington Nationals on Saturday. Dexter Fowler had half of the Rockies hits for the game, with three, while Michael Cuddyer had the only score after doubling in the fourth inning.

Jeff Francis pitched pretty decently for five innings, save a solo home run given up to Ian Desmond, but ran into trouble in a three run sixth when he allowed hits to the first two hitters. Josh Roenicke replaced Francis then, but couldn't get out of the jam. Roenicke allowed a run scoring single to Ryan Zimmerman then a wild pitch plus a Wilin Rosario throwing error compounded the inning and allowed the second run to score. Roenicke then botched a pick-off throw to bring in the third and final run. Those two errors and two more elsewhere in the game tied a season high for Colorado.

The game-time temperatures in Washington reached roughly as high as the Rockies season projected loss total: 101. The two teams play again tomorrow.