The Rockies’ Marco Scutaro didn’t waste his second chance.
The veteran second baseman punched a two-out single off the Nationals’ Craig Stammen in the 11th inning, driving in Jonathan Herrera and delivering the Rockies an 11-10 walkoff victory Thursday afternoon at Coors Field.
Turning point. After Rockies’ closer Rafael Betancourt blew a save in the ninth, yielding a solo homer to Nationals rookie Bryce Harper, the Rockies still found a way to rebound. Herrera led off the 11th with a double, moved to third on Dexter Fowler’s deep fly to center, then trotted home on Scutaro’s single. Scutaro faced a similar scenario in the ninth but grounded into an inning-ending double play with runners on first and second.
“After something like that happens, you pretty much have to turn the page and concentrate on your next at-bat, because there is nothing you can do about your previous AB,” said Scutaro, who had three hits.
Rockies reliever Adam Ottavino held the Nationals scoreless in the 10th and 11th, striking out five. He set up the Nats with a 96 mph fastball and set them down with a wicked slider.
“My fastballs were up, but well located up, so that was good,” Ottavino said. “Then I got them to chase some breaking balls down. I just wanted to come in and put up a zero because I knew we would score eventually.”
On the mound. Ottavino was spectacular. The rest of the Rockies pitchers, not so much.
For the first two innings, Rockies starter Josh Outman was textbook perfect. Pounding the strike zone to get ahead in the count, the lefty retired six consecutive hitters, striking out three. He lost his rhythm and his aggressiveness in the third, giving up five runs on five hits, including a three-run homer to dead center by Michael Morse that barely cleared the wall.
“That was a pop-up home run, thanks to Coors Field,” Outman said.
The lefty threw just 28 pitches in the first two innings, but 39 in the third as Colorado’s lead shrank from 7-0 to 7-5.
“That’s been my issue all year, that one big inning,” Outman said. “I haven’t had any luck being able to limit the damage at all.”
Josh Roenicke, the so-called “piggyback” starter of the day, blew the lead. He allowed four runs (three earned) on four hits in three innings. The two-run homer he served up to Ian Desmond in the fifth tied the game at 9-9.
To be fair, if third baseman Chris Nelson hadn’t blown a double play chance with a wild throw toward second, Roenicke would have gotten out of trouble with just one run allowed.
Late-inning relievers Rex Brothers and Matt Belisle held Washington scoreless in the seventh and eighth, respectively, but Betancourt threw a flat 80-mph slider over the heart of the plate in the ninth and Harper smoked it over the fence.
Nationals starter Edwin Jackson was flying high entering the game, coming off a strong performance against Baltimore. But the Rockies treated him like a batting-practice pitcher, battering him for eight runs on 10 hits in three innings. Jackson’s ERA at Coors Field in four career starts? 17.40.
At the plate. Tyler Colvin, now hitting .309, finished a double short of the cycle. His day began with a first-inning, three-run homer into the second deck off Jackson. He followed up his eighth home run of the season with an RBI single in the second and an RBI triple in the fourth. Over his last 13 games, Colvin is hitting .400 (20-for-50) with five doubles, five homers and 16 RBIs.
The Rockies scorched the Nationals for 20 hits, including three-hit days from Fowler, Scutaro, Carlos Gonzalez and Nelson.
What it means. The Rockies came close to gift-wrapping another game. But Scutaro came through when it counted to earn a split in the four-game series.
