Elias Diaz homered as part of a two-run ninth inning and the visiting Colorado Rockies rallied past the Washington Nationals 9-8 on Friday night for their fourth straight win.
Diaz led off the ninth against Nationals closer Kyle Finnegan (5-8) and lined a homer to left, his 18th. Sam Hilliard singled and Finnegan walked Raimel Tapia. Garrett Hampson bunted the runners over and Brendan Rodgers looped a single to left, scoring Hilliard with the go-ahead run.
Rodgers and Hilliard also homered for the Rockies (69-78), who rallied from an early 6-2 deficit.
Lucas Gilbreath (2-1) pitched 2/3 of an inning for the win and Carlos Estevez pitched around a pair of hits in the ninth for his ninth save.
Lane Thomas had a three-run homer and Keibert Ruiz had three hits for Washington (60-87), which took an 8-7 lead in the eighth on an RBI single by Alcides Escobar and Josh Bell's fielder's choice groundout.
Nationals rookie Josiah Gray, still seeking his first major league win, allowed five runs on three hits and four walks in 5 1/3 innings in his 10th start. He struck out five.
Hampson and Rodgers walked to start the game and Charlie Blackmon followed with a double, scoring Hampson. C.J. Cron's sacrifice fly made it 2-0.
The Nationals quickly tied it with a two-out rally in the first. After Soto singled with two outs, Bell walked. Soto scored on a single by Yadiel Hernandez and Keibert Ruiz doubled home Bell.
In the Washington fourth, singles by Keibert Ruiz, Carter Kieboom and Luis Garcia produced a run before Thomas homered to center on a 2-1 slider to give the Nationals a 6-2 lead.
Colorado starter German Marquez left after surrendering six runs on eight hits in four innings.
Hampson drew his second walk of the night off Gray in the fifth and Rodgers followed with a homer to left center, his 13th of the season, to cut the deficit in half.
--Field Level Media
Colorado | Washington | |
German Marquez | Player | Josiah Gray |
No Decision | W/L | No Decision |
4.0 | IP | 5.1 |
1 | Strikeouts | 5 |
8 | Hits | 3 |
13.50 | ERA | 8.44 |
Colorado | Washington | |
Sam Hilliard | Player | Keibert Ruiz |
2 | Hits | 3 |
2 | RBI | 1 |
1 | HR | 0 |
5 | TB | 4 |
.500 | Avg | .600 |
Team | Hits | HR | TB | Avg | LOB | K | RBI | BB | SB | Errors |
Colorado | 8 | 3 | 19 | .250 | 8 | 7 | 9 | 5 | 1 | 2 |
Washington | 14 | 1 | 20 | .341 | 21 | 4 | 7 | 5 | 0 | 0 |