It was one of those nights at Coors Field.
David Hale showed some signs of rust in his first start back from a trip to the disabled list. He was tagged for two runs in the first inning on an opposite field home run from Yunel Escobar.
The Rockies struck back with three runs of their own in the bottom of the first. Two came on Carlos Gonzalez' 3 zillionth home run since June 1. The final run came on an error from Ian Desmond who is having a tough year defensively at shortstop.
Jose Reyes extended the Rockies lead to 4-2 with a solo home run -- his first in a Rockies uniform -- in the second. The lead was short-lived, however.
Escobar got Hale again with an RBI single in the third which was followed by the same feat from Desmond and the game was tied at four.
The Nationals took the lead on a Danny Espinosa double in the fourth and took a 6-4 lead in the fifth on a wild pitch.
The Rockies struck back in the bottom of the fifth on a double from Nolan Arenado. Kyle Parker tied the game at six in the sixth with a no-doubt blast to left field, the second home run of his career.
Naturally, Washington came right back to take the lead at 7-6 on an RBI single from Michael Taylor that skipped just past a diving Jose Reyes.
Things got out of hand, as they so often do, with the Rockies bullpen. They gave up all the runs and when the dust settled the Rockies found themselves on the wrong end of a 15-6 beat-down.
I'll just leave this here:
#Nationals have nine runs off the bullpen. In their last three appearances, #Rockies bullpen has given up 20 runs, 19 earned, in 11 innings
— Thomas Harding (@harding_at_mlb) August 19, 2015
Source: FanGraphs