Game 73: Rockies at Nats

Mark Zuckerman / NATS INSIDER

Winners of two straight, the Nats will look for their three consecutive wins for the first time since May 10. Stephen Strasburg (3-6, 2.50 ERA) takes the mound for his second start since being activated from the disabled list. He will face the Colorado Rockies for the third time in his young career. Both of his previous starts have resulted in losses with a 3.75 ERA across 12 total innings against the club.

Pitching for the Rockies is 23 year old right-hander Tyler Chatwood (4-1, 2.33). The former second round pick has been a nice surprise for Colorado this season with the best ERA in their rotation. He has never faced the Nationals before in his three major league seasons.

Today will be the second of the four-game series between the two teams. Dating back to their previous series this season, the Nationals have won three straight against the Rockies with five runs scored in each of those games.

Stay tuned for updates throughout the game...

COLORADO ROCKIES at WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 7:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: WJFK (106.7 FM), WFED (1500), XM 183
Weather: Mostly clear, 83 degrees

NATIONALS (36-36)
CF Denard Span
2B Anthony Rendon
3B Ryan Zimmerman
1B Adam LaRoche
RF Jayson Werth
SS Ian Desmond
LF Steve Lombardozzi
C Kurt Suzuki
RHP Stephen Strasburg

ROCKIES (37-37)
CF Dexter Fowler
2B D.J. LeMahieu
LF Carlos Gonzalez
RF Michael Cuddyer
C Wilin Rosario
1B Todd Helton
3B Nolan Arenado
SS Josh Rutledge
RHP Tyler Chatwood

UMPIRES
HP Sam Holbrook
1B Andy Fletcher
2B Rob Drake
3B Joe West (cc)

7:07 p.m. — Hey everybody, Mark here. Thanks to Chase for getting the game thread started since I was late to the park this afternoon. It's another beautiful night as Dexter Fowler lines Stephen Strasburg's first pitch of the night to center field for an out.

7:12 p.m. — A nice and tidy, 12-pitch, 1-2-3 top of the first for Strasburg. After the Fowler lineout, he got D.J. LeMahieu to fly out to right, then struck out Carlos Gonzalez on a nice, 91-mph changeup. Bottom of the first ahead.

7:21 p.m. — Another base hit for Anthony Rendon, another one to right field. He's just been an opposite-field machine so far. Ryan Zimmerman, on the other hand, just struck out on another fastball. Seems like that's happening multiple times a night these days, and I'm not sure I can offer any reason why. He's just not making contact right now with those pitches. Scoreless after one.

7:31 p.m. — Strasburg pitches around a leadoff single to Michael Cuddyer, who also stole second base rather easily and then took third on a groundball to the right side. Needing a strikeout to keep Cuddyer from scoring, Strasburg got a big one, getting Todd Helton to flail away at a curveball. Nolan Arenado then grounded out to end the inning, keeping the game scoreless. Thirty-two pitches from Strasburg, 20 strikes.

7:48 p.m. — Oops, Strasburg grazed No. 8 hitter Josh Rutledge with a pitch to begin the top of the third, and sure enough it came back to haunt him. With two outs and Rutledge on second, D.J. LeMahieu sent an RBI single to left, putting the Rockies up 1-0.

8:11 p.m. — If you're out and about and not paying attention, here's a quick recap for you after four innings of play: Strasburg makes one mistake, and the Nats can't hit. There you go, you can now go back to whatever it was you were doing. Still 1-0 moving the fifth.

8:21 p.m. — Six strikeouts now for Strasburg in five innings, including a big one of Fowler on a curveball with two outs and a man on second in the top of the fifth. That man, Rutledge, reached on an infield single to the hole at shortstop, though Desmond made a tremendous effort to nearly throw him out. Replays showed it was a bang-bang play, really no way to say for sure. Regardless, Strasburg got out of the inning and is now at 68 pitches (45 strikes) as we move to the bottom of the fifth.

8:26 p.m. — Let's see, through five innings, the Nats lineup has hit only three balls out of the infield against Tyler Chatwood. And only one of those was pulled: LaRoche's single to right in the fourth. Not an especially impressive offensive showing tonight, though not an especially surprising performance given the way things have gone here all season. Still 1-0 Colorado.

8:48 p.m. — Hey, the Nats have scored a run! Some two-out thunder from Rendon (a base hit to right, his second of the night) followed by a Zimmerman double into the right-field corner. How about that? Of course, there was an opportunity add on after the Rockies intentionally walked LaRoche to get to Werth. But Werth flied out weakly to right, leaving him 0-for-7 with five strikeouts the last two nights. Oh well, at least it's 1-1 now after six.

8:57 p.m. — Couple of interesting moments in the top of the seventh. With two out and a man on second, pitching coach Steve McCatty and assistant trainer Steve Gober went to the mound to talk to Strasburg for some reason. Time to panic? Well, apparently not, because Gober's visit lasted about 2.3 seconds. Moments later, Zim made a spectacular, over-the-shoulder catch on a pop-foul well behind third base. Great play to end the inning and keep this game 1-1 at the stretch.

9:00 p.m. — Ian Desmond. En fuego. Three homers in as many nights, including a leadoff shot in the bottom of the seventh right now that puts the Nats up 2-1. He worked the count to 2-0 against Manuel Corpas and then crushed the next pitch to right-center. Quite a run here lately by Desmond.

9:05 p.m. — Well, Strasburg is not out for the eighth inning. Doesn't necessarily mean anything's wrong with him, but he only threw 95 pitches and the Nats took the lead, so it's possible something's wrong. We'll see. Meanwhile, Drew Storen enters trying to protect a 2-1 lead.

9:17 p.m. — Wow, what a job by Storen in the eighth. He put himself in a jam with a leadoff walk and then an errant throw after catching a popped-up bunt. But with the tying run on second, he blew away Carlos Gonzalez and Michael Cuddyer. Struck out Gonzalez on a 96 mph, 2-seamer, then struck out Cuddyer on an 85-mph slider. Best inning of the year for Storen, who protects the 2-1 lead.

9:29 p.m. — Onto the ninth. It's Rafael Soriano vs. Rosario, Helton, Arenado.

9:40 p.m. — That's it. Soriano finishes off a 2-1 victory, the Nationals' third straight, thanks to a spectacular play by LaRoche at first base to end it. It's their first three-game winning streak since May 8-10 and it puts them back over the .500 mark.