Nationals' Gonzalez records 100th victory
WASHINGTON -- Veteran lefty Gio Gonzalez picked up his 100th career win and Jayson Werth and Bryce Harper each had two hits and two RBIs as the Washington Nationals beat the Colorado Rockies 8-5 on Friday.
Gonzalez (9-9) allowed two runs and just four hits in six innings before he was lifted for a pinch-hitter in the last of the sixth. The Miami-area product, now 100-75 in his career, gave up just one walk with five strikeouts and threw 85 pitches.
Rookie right-hander Koda Glover took over in the seventh and retired all three batters, including the first two via strikeouts.
Werth had an RBI double in the seventh to make it 5-2 as he drove in Trea Turner, who had two hits to give him 12 in the last four games. Bryce Harper had a two-run triple later in the inning off Matt Carasiti to make it 7-2. The lead became 8-2 when Anthony Rendon scored Harper with a sacrifice fly.
The losing pitcher was Jeff Hoffman (0-2), who has now lost to the Chicago Cubs and Nationals in his first two big league starts in the past week. Hoffman yielded four runs (three earned) in six innings before Carasiti allowed four runs in the seventh.
Nick Hundley had three hits for the Rockies, who won two of three over Washington in Denver earlier this month. His three-run homer in the ninth cut the lead to 8-5 off Shawn Kelley, and Mark Melancon got the last out.
Washington reliever Kelley, who broke into the majors in 2009, struck out in his first major-league at-bat in the eighth. Daniel Murphy drove in two runs and scored twice for Washington.
Ryan Raburn had two hits for the Rockies in as many at-bats before David Dahl took over in left.
The first-place Nationals (75-53) began the day eight games ahead of the Miami Marlins in the National League East. Colorado (60-68) lost its fourth in a row and is now 20-20 since the All-Star break after starting the second half 14-5.
Werth hit his second solo homer in two days as he gave the Nationals a 1-0 lead in the first with a shot to left off Hoffman.
The Rockies tied the game at 1 in the second as Daniel Descalso had a sacrifice fly to drive in Raburn, who reached on an infield single and took third on a single by Hundley.
Washington took a 2-1 lead in the third as Turner reached on infield single and advanced to third on a pair of errors. Murphy then had an RBI groundout to drive in Turner, who collected his 11th hit in four games.
Hundley had an RBI double off Gonzalez in the fourth to tie the game at 2. His two-out hit scored Raburn, who doubled in front of Hundley.
The Nationals took a 3-2 lead in the fourth as Rendon scored on a double play grounder off of the bat of Jose Lobaton.
Murphy hit his 25th homer of the year on a 3-2 pitch from Hoffman in the fifth. The solo homer made it 4-2 and gave Murphy 500 RBIs in his career.
Rockies first baseman Stephen Cardullo, who played in several independent leagues, flew out to center in his first MLB at-bat in the top of the first.
Lobaton, normally a backup, made his second straight start at catcher as regular Wilson Ramos got another night off.
NOTES: The Rockies called up INF/OF Stephen Cardullo from Triple-A Albuquerque to make his big league debut. They also sent INF Ben Paulsen to Triple-A and transferred RHP Scott Oberg to the 60-day disabled list. Paulsen is hitting .217 in 92 at-bats, while Oberg is 1-1 with a 5.19 ERA in three stints with the Rockies this year ... Washington RHP A.J. Cole (0-1, 5.14) will face Rockies RHP Jorge De La Rosa (8-7, 5.07) on Saturday in the second game of the series ... Colorado RHP Jeff Hoffman, the starter on Friday, gave up seven runs on Aug. 20 to the Chicago Cubs in his first major league start ... Nationals RHP Matt Belisle pitched for the Rockies from 2009-14 and won 10 games out of the bullpen in 74 outings in 2011 for Colorado ... Former Washington Senators OF Frank Howard was recognized before the game as he was inducted into the Ring of Honor at Nationals Park. He hit 382 homers in his career.