It wasn’t always pretty, but the Rockies beat the Nationals 6-5 Sunday afternoon to take three out of four in D.C. Charlie Blackmon drove in three runs early, but DJ LeMahieu and Ian Desmond homered late to power the Rockies to the win. In between, the pitching alternated between shaky and very shaky. But the win pushed the Rockies back above .500. They’re now 9-8.
Wild game
Several lead changes and tie games characterized this one. LeMahieu hit his fifth home run of the season to tie the game in the eighth, and then Desmond knocked one in the ninth to give the Rockies the lead for good.
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Wild pitching
Tyler Anderson had a day, and by “had a day” I mean after his last pitch in the fifth inning he let out an enormous eff-bomb that could probably be heard in Maryland. Anderson allowed just one earned run off of two hits—that run was a Bryce Harper home run—but he walked six and constantly had to manage traffic. In that fateful fifth, Anderson recorded a couple of outs but also walked three batters (three of the six he walked for the day). Two eventually scored on what ended up being the story of the game.
Antonio Senzatela relieved Anderson, and what happened next was too familiar to be comfortable. Senzatela and Iannetta got crossed up, which led to a passed ball. One run scored. Iannetta then threw the ball to Senzatela, who was covering home. But Senzatela couldn’t handle the throw. Another run scored. It wasn’t exactly “three runs score on wild pitch” that happened back in 2014, but it did create that same queasiness.
Then, in the eighth inning with the Rockies ahead by one, Michael Taylor scored from third to tie the game after an Adam Ottavino wild pitch. It could have been worse. Ottavino hit Matt Wieters to lead off the inning, but he was erased after an attempted steal.
Looking ahead
The Rockies start a three-game series against the Pirates in Pittsburgh on Monday. Germán Márquez will face Steven Brault, and first pitch is scheduled for 5:05 MT.