With their division title hopes nearing the brink, the Rockies’ big three broke down this week against the Washington Nationals.
Three times the Rockies put their best pitchers on the mound. Three times the Nationals knocked their socks off — Charlie Brown style.
Monday night, the Nationals scalded all-star pitcher Aaron Cook for seven runs on 11 hits in a 9-4 victory.
Thursday, the Nationals swept a rare doubleheader, spoiling Jeff Francis’ return with a 6-3 victory in the first game and cooling off Ubaldo Jimenez by the same score in the second.
It’s not exactly what the Rockies needed, or expected, against a team with a .245 batting average, worst in the National League.
“Their starters outpitched our starters in this series, and offensively they swung the bats better than we did,” manager Clint Hurdle said, noting that the Rockies went a combined 1-for-13 with runners in scoring position in the doubleheader. “That’s the reality of what it is. We can talk all we want about what looks good on paper. But you take it out there on the field, and if you can’t back it up out there, you end up having a series like we just had.”
Hurdle has lined up his rotation so Francis, Jimenez and Cook would face the National League West-leading Diamondbacks Tuesday through Thursday at Coors Field. But that series, once thought to be so crucial to the Rockies’ faint playoff hopes, is quickly losing its luster. The Rockies, 13 games under .500, fell eight games behind the Diamondbacks. The Rockies have a scant 45 games left in the season to make up a lot of ground.
The discouragement in the Colorado clubhouse Thursday evening was palpable.
“We were playing well at home before this,” shortstop Troy Tulowitzki said. “To lose three out of four to the Nationals. . . . They played good, but that is a team that we should have played better against. We’ve dug ourselves a hole. Now we are going to have to dig ourselves out of it, just like we have done all year.”
Jimenez was brilliant in July, going 5-1 with a 1.74 ERA. Thursday, he gave up six runs on eight hits in five innings. He walked a season-high six batters, looking like he did in April when he went 1-2 with a 5.90 ERA and never got past the sixth inning.
“It was one of those games,” Jimenez said. “I never had any control, and my fastball was wild.”
Hurdle offered this blunt observation: “He was all over the place. He had six walks, and he pitched from mid-thigh up into the zone. He never got in a good rhythm or good sync with his command.”
In Game 1, Francis’ much-anticipated comeback from the disabled list turned into a setback. Francis pitched well for four innings but watched Washington center fielder Lastings Milledge crash the party in the fifth.
Milledge crushed a full-count fastball onto the left-field concourse in the Nationals’ three-run inning. Milledge added a two-run blast in the sixth, extending the Nationals’ lead to 5-0.
Jimenez took the mound for the nightcap, thinking he could salvage a split in the series, but he struggled with his mechanics from beginning to end.
“It’s never a good feeling,” Jimenez said. “We lost the first game today, and the team needed to win the second game. I didn’t pitch good. That’s not a good feeling.”
If there was anything positive to come out of the doubleheader defeat, it was the resurgence of Garrett Atkins. He finished the day 4-for-8 with a homer and had all three RBIs in Game 2.
Patrick Saunders: 303-954-1428 or psaunders@denverpost.com
Looking ahead
TODAY: Padres at Rockies, 7 p.m., FSN
Glendon Rusch (4-3, 5.47 ERA) is undefeated since the all-star break, and the Rockies are 4-2 in his starts this season. Rusch will be facing the Padres, who released him earlier this season. Jake Peavy (8-7, 2.59) won’t repeat as the Cy Young Award winner but is quietly salvaging his season. The right-hander hasn’t won in Denver since Sept. 21, 2005, compiling a 5.06 ERA.
Troy E. Renck, The Denver Post
Upcoming pitching matchups
Saturday:
Padres’ Greg Maddux (5-8, 4.17 ERA) vs. Rockies’ Aaron Cook (14-7, 3.68), 6:05 p.m., FSN
Sunday:
Padres’ Chris Young (4-4, 4.06) vs. Rockies’ Jorge De La Rosa (5-6, 6.55), 1:05 p.m., KTVD-20
Monday:
Off day
Tuesday:
Diamondbacks’ Randy Johnson (9-8, 4.24) vs. Rockies’ Jeff Francis (3-8, 5.81), 7:05 p.m., FSN
