The victory ended a three-game losing streak for Washington (7-8). The Nationals scored three runs in the first 23 innings of the teams' four-game series -- Colorado (8-8) won the first two games and three straight overall -- until the four-run sixth.
Scherzer (3-1) gave up just one hit in seven innings, striking out 11 and walking one.
The right-hander threw 103 pitches, 70 of which were strikes, in another dominating performance.
The lone hit Scherzer allowed was a two-run homer by Charlie Blackmon in the first. Blackmon returned after missing the past four games (tight right quad). That gave the Rockies a quick 2-0 lead.
The Nationals then began to rally. Matt Wieters hit a solo homer off Colorado starter Jon Gray (1-3) in the fourth to make it 2-1 and then hit a game-tying RBI single in the sixth.
That put runners at first and third with one out, and Taylor then pushed a safety squeeze bunt that first baseman Ian Desmond fielded and threw home.
Bryce Harper was originally ruled out at the plate on the play, but Washington challenged the ruling and it got overturned, giving the Nationals a 3-2 lead.
Sierra followed with his two-run double to center, driving in Wieters and Taylor for a 5-2 lead. Sierra tried to stretch it into a triple but got thrown out at third. The RBIs were his first in the majors in nearly four years.
Wilmer Difo added an RBI single in the seventh that gave the Nationals a 6-2 lead.
The Rockies could not do much else on offense, finishing with just two hits.
The Nationals dealt with some injury issues in this game. Anthony Rendon was held out after fouling a ball off his left big toe and exiting Friday's game early. Manager Dave Martinez said X-rays were negative and Rendon is day-to-day but in a lot of pain.
Brian Goodwin was in the original Saturday lineup but got scratched due to a sore left wrist. Sierra replaced him in left field and came up with his big hit.
For the Rockies, Nolan Arenado dropped the appeal of his five-game suspension and therefore was out of the lineup.
--Field Level Media
Colorado | Washington | |
Jon Gray | Player | Max Scherzer |
Loss | W/L | Win |
5.2 | IP | 7.0 |
6 | Strikeouts | 11 |
8 | Hits | 1 |
7.94 | ERA | 2.57 |
Colorado | Washington | |
Ryan McMahon | Player | Bryce Harper |
1 | Hits | 2 |
0 | RBI | 0 |
0 | HR | 0 |
1 | TB | 3 |
.333 | Avg | .667 |
Team | Hits | HR | TB | Avg | LOB | K | RBI | BB | SB | Errors |
Colorado | 2 | 1 | 5 | .069 | 4 | 14 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
Washington | 12 | 1 | 17 | .353 | 12 | 7 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 0 |