Rockies at Nationals (Game 2)
The Washington Nationals lost their offense when the rain came, now they need to scramble to find it again with two games coming up. The Nationals, who scored 15 runs on Thursday before having Friday's series opener washed out and falling short on Saturday, will try to get their offense going when they host the Colorado Rockies on Sunday in a split doubleheader.
The Rockies, who dropped three in a row before getting Thursday and Friday off, got a strong start from German Marquez on Saturday and did enough with the bats to grab a 4-2 win and stay within one game of the Arizona Diamondbacks for the top wild card spot in the National League. One area of concern for Colorado was the bridge to closer Greg Holland, but Pat Neshek made his debut on Saturday after being acquired from Philadelphia and worked a perfect eighth inning. Washington piled up 19 hits and eight home runs against the Milwaukee Brewers on Thursday but could not get the ball out of the yard against Marquez and totaled three hits in Saturday's loss as Bryce Harper, Ryan Zimmerman, Daniel Murphy and Anthony Rendon combined to go 0-for-13. The Nationals will try to muster better swings on Sunday against Kyle Freeland and Jon Gray while Washington counters with Erick Fedde and Edwin Jackson.
TV: 7:05 p.m. ET, AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain (Colorado), MASN (Washington)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Rockies RH Jon Gray (3-1, 5.84 ERA) vs. Nationals RH Edwin Jackson (1-1, 4.76)
Gray was expecting to get extra rest after throwing 96 pitches in five innings at St. Louis on Tuesday but will instead be pushed up to regular rest due to Friday's rainout. The 25-year-old Oklahoma native ended up allowing two runs and eight hits in those five frames and failed to notch a quality start in any of his last four outings. Gray is making his second career start against Washington and was reached for four runs and six hits over four innings in his first chance.
Jackson followed up a strong Washington debut on July 18 at Los Angeles by getting rocked against Milwaukee on Tuesday, when he was ripped for seven runs - three earned - on seven hits and three walks over five innings. The veteran is struggling to keep the ball in the park since returning to the NL and surrendered a total of five homers in two starts for the Nationals. Jackson surrendered home runs previously in his career to Colorado sluggers Nolan Arenado and Charlie Blackmon.
WALK-OFFS
1. The Rockies recalled OF Raimel Tapia on Saturday and designated RHP Jordan Lyles for assignment.
2. Nationals SS Wilmer Difo drove in at least one run in each of the last three games.
3. Washington placed INF Stephen Drew (abdominal) on the 10-day disabled list.