Hughes' start, Herget's ninth-inning meltdown didn't help the Colorado Rockies to get a sweep over the Washington Nationals.
It looked like a golden opportunity for the Colorado Rockies to pick up a sweep on Thursday afternoon against the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park. Unfortunately, that did not happen.
Rockies starting pitcher Gabriel Hughes surrendered four earned runs, while reliever Jimmy Herget gave up three earned runs as Washington defeated Colorado 7-1.
Brett Sullivan's RBI single with two outs in the top of the third inning produced the Rockies' lone run.
Daylen Lile hammered his 18th home run this season, a solo blast off of Hughes in the bottom of the fifth inning. Catcher Keibert Ruiz smashed a two-run home run in the bottom of the eighth inning.
Nationals had just enough offense
Just that offense enough was good for the Nationals to record a win over one of the worst teams in all of the major leagues. Hughes worked five innings, giving up seven hits, four earned runs, walked four, struck out three, and gave up Lile's homer.
Herget had a nightmarish eighth inning. In his lone inning of work, Herget gave up three hits, three earned runs, didn't walk a batter, struck out one, and surrendered Ruiz's two-run blast.
Colorado first baseman TJ Rumfield walked four times and picked up one of the Rockies' five hits on the day. Willi Castro, Connor Norby, Troy Johnston, Sullivan, and Rumfield had all of the team's hits against Nationals pitching.
Washington reliever Tom Cosgrove earned his first win this season. Cosgrove came in after starter Jake Irvin was pulled from the game. Cosgrove worked 1.2 innings of hitless ball, walked one, and struck out two.
Rockies, Nationals RISP totals were incredlble
When looking at the Rockies' and Nationals' runners left on base totals, fans are going to shake their heads. That's especially true for the Rockies. Colorado was 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position and left 12 total runners on base.
The Nationals were 3-for-17 with runners in scoring position and left 12 total runners on base. So, the Rockies had plenty of chances to get more into the game from an offensive standpoint. That did not happen at all.
Colorado is now 52-82, 30 games below .500, for this season. The team has won more games than last season's squad, which is good news. Yet the Rockies simply need to pack on a few more wins so that they don't end up with 100 losses.
Now, Colorado travels to Atlanta, where they will play the Atlanta Braves in a three-game series at Truist Park. How do the starting pitchers line up going into this series? Colorado goes on Friday night against the Braves' Grant Holmes. On Saturday, Ryan Feltner faces Atlanta's Martin Perez. Then, on Sunday afternoon, Mason Adams gets another start and will go against the Braves' Tyler Mahle.
