DENVER — Nolan Arenado certainly has a flair for the dramatic.
Remember Father’s Day 2017, when he finished off a cycle with a three-run, walk-off home run to lift the Rockies to a victory over the San Francisco Giants at Coors Field?
The All-Star third baseman’s solo home run Monday night wasn’t nearly as sensational, but it sure was timely. His 419-foot shot to left field in the seventh inning at Coors was not only the 1,000th hit of his brilliant career, it gave the Rockies a 6-5 lead over Washington.
Raimel Tapia’s pinch-hit solo home run in the eighth sealed Colorado’s 7-5 victory. The Rockies have won seven of their last eight games, almost erasing an eight-game losing streak that stalled them coming out of the gate.
Arenado — 3-for-4 with two doubles — hit his milestone homer off Wander Suero’s 1-0 cutter. Arenado also now has 226 career doubles, moving him into fifth place in franchise history.
Closer Wade Davis pitched a shaky ninth, giving up a leadoff double to Ryan Zimmerman and one-out walk to Brian Dozier, but Arenado — who else? — closed out the game with a nifty shortstop-to-first base double play on Kurt Suzuki’s grounder. Davis collected his second save.
The seemingly ageless Mark Reynolds tied the game 5-5 in the fifth with a two-run homer off Washington starter Jeremy Hellickson. Reynolds swatted Hellickson’s 3-1 changeup 430 feet to straightaway center. Reynolds, 35, is just three home runs shy of 300 for his career.
Colorado left-hander Tyler Anderson, who’s been hampered by a sore left knee, came off the injured list Monday to make the start. The Rockies were hoping he would work deep into the game. It didn’t happen. He was gone after three-plus innings, having given up five runs on four hits, with four strikeouts and three walks. He needed 81 pitches in his short stint.
Anderson’s struggles were all too familiar. He ran up a high pitch count, began wobbling and then paid for it all by serving up a home run. Those troubles peaked in the Nationals’ three-run fourth inning when they took a 5-2 lead. Ryan Zimmerman led off with a single, Yan Gomes drew an 11-pitch walk and Dozier delivered a 435-foot home run to left on Anderson’s 2-0, 87.3 mph, cut fastball.
Anderson gave up 30 home runs last season, trying Milwaukee’s Chase Anderson for the most in the National League. He has given up three homers in just 12 innings this season, and his ERA sits at 12.00 after three starts.
Chad Bettis relieved Anderson and kept the Rockies in the game, pitching three spotless innings.
Freeland lands on IL
The Rockies’ starting rotation, the club’s strength during its recent hot streak, took a hit Monday when left-hander Kyle Freeland was placed on the 10-day injured list because of a blister on the middle finger of his left hand. Freeland was scheduled to start tonight’s game against Washington at Coors Field but will now miss that start. He’s confident, however, that he will miss only one start.
