Rockies defeat Nationals 5-3

The Rockies defeated the Nationals 5-3 today and took the series on the road.

Chad Bettis allowed a solo home run in his first and seventh innings of work, but nothing else. In his seven innings, he allowed five hits, struck out six, and walked one. The only two runs he allowed were from those two solo homers.

The Rockies began their scoring early. In the first, Nolan Arenado singled in a run in the to give the Rockies a one-run lead. The game was tied up at one after the aforementioned solo home run Bettis allowed. Then, in the third, Arenado hit a two-run dinger to give the Rockies a 3-1 lead. It was his 35th home run of the season. The next batter, David Dahl, hit a solo home run, his fifth of the year, to make it 4-1 after three innings. Both homers were off of top prospect Lucas Giolito. The Rockies chased Giolito after five innings, during which he allowed five hits, four runs, and he walked and struck out two.

Bettis got into a bit of trouble in the fifth inning. An Espinosa and Trea Turner single put runners on the corners in the bottom of the fifth with one out. Bettis helped himself out by getting a grounder to second base, but it was off the bat of speedy Ben Revere. But the Rockies were still able to turn the double play, which ended the inning without any damage.

In the sixth, lefty specialist Oliver Pérez allowed a single and a double to lefties Daniel Descalso and Gerardo Parra. They weren’t able to add any insurance runs though. Tony Wolters grounded out weakly, Chad Bettis grounded out meekly, and Charlie Blackmon grounded out.

The Rockies added a run in the eighth in odd fashion. Daniel Descalso doubled, and with Wolters at the plate, pitcher Koda Glover and catcher Wilson Ramos got crossed up. Glover threw a fastball, whereas Ramos was expecting something breaking. The fastball sailed past Ramos and hit the home plate umpire in the shoulder head-on. He was clearly hurt, but the ball was also clearly in play. Descalso took off and kept running until he scored. It made it 5-2.

Bryce Harper hit a solo home run off of Boone Logan in the ninth inning, making it 5-3. Weiss replaced him with Adam Ottavino, who closed out the game and secured the victory.

The Rockies return to Coors Field tomorrow to face the Dodgers in the team’s final series of August. Jon Gray starts against Kenta Maeda, starting at 6:40 MT.