Rookie Antonio Senzatela gave up a new career high in runs (disclaimer: he’s only made five starts) and suffered the first loss of his major league career, but the Colorado Rockies had a fighting chance when he left the game on Thursday afternoon. By the time the Washington Nationals had made three outs in the seventh inning, there was hardly any doubt who was going to win the game and the series.
Senzatela (3-1, 2.81) allowed seven hits and four runs over six innings, but Colorado trailed only by two runs when Bud Black turned things over to Carlos Estevez. The young right-hander Estevez surrendered seven runs on four hits as part of an 11-run seventh inning that catapulted the Nationals to a 16-5 victory and a 3-1 series win over the Rockies at Coors Field. Jordan Lyles gave up another four runs in 1.1 innings out of the bullpen in the loss. Bryce Harper had just one hit on the day, but it was a three-run home run in the Nats’ big inning. With the series win, Washington passed Colorado for the best record in the National League.
Colorado took an early lead on a Nolan Arenado home run in the first inning, but Washington answered with a run in each of the next two frames. Pat Valaika knocked in Trevor Story to tie the game at two in the fourth. The Rockies’ offense went silent for the next four innings against Gio Gonzalez and Matt Albers. They scratched out three runs off Joe Blanton in the ninth, but it was a lost cause at that point.
Colorado closes the book on a series in which they were outscored 46-29, including back-to-back-to-back games giving up at least 11 runs. The Rockies will now shift their focus to a weekend series with the Arizona Diamondbacks, who just overtook them for the top spot in the NL West. Rookie Kyle Freeland (2-1, 3.32) will try and build off a successful last start for Colorado. Robbie Ray (2-0, 3.42) will make his fifth start of the year for Arizona.
