Nats come back to earth against Rockies after sweep

WASHINGTON -- The Nationals did not want their series sweep of the Giants to be a one-off feat. When the Rockies came to Nationals Park on Monday night, the Nats had won consecutive home series and were coming off taking all three games in a series for the first time in two years.

“I want them to continue to be ready today and go out there and don’t change anything, just do the little things,” manager Dave Martinez said before the game.

The results, though, differed from the previous three victories. The Nationals fell, 10-6, to the Rockies in the series opener. Washington had its five-game home winning streak halted.

“We made some mistakes, a couple mistakes uncharacteristic of ourselves,” said Martinez. “We’ll have to bounce back tomorrow.”

Left-hander Patrick Corbin helped out the shorthanded bullpen by going 6 1/3 innings, but he allowed six runs (five earned) on 10 hits (including a two-run homer to Nolan Jones) and two walks. He also recorded five strikeouts. Despite retiring the side in the first two innings, Corbin surrendered 10 or more hits for the fifth time this season.

"Really aggressive,” Corbin said of the Rockies' offense. “We knew that, and I'm sure the next two games they're going to be swinging as well. A lot of early contact, a lot of early swings. Sometimes it can work great for you, and then sometimes things can kind of get out of hand quick.

“But you just try to make some good quality pitches on 0-0, try to get ahead -- that was the game plan. Sometimes it worked. Those first three [innings] went by really quick, and it seemed like after that maybe a couple of those hits fell just out of the reach of some of our guys, and they came up with a big hit."

In his 21st start of the season, Corbin’s ERA rose to 5.01.

“You know, it looked bad, but it really wasn’t that bad,” Martinez said. “For me, the one bad pitch was the homer -- left the slider up in the zone. The leadoff walks, too, that was big a couple times. [But] he was cruising there early. I thought he threw the ball well. He gave up a couple bleeders, then a couple of good base hits. And the next thing you know, we’re down.”

A Nats team that scored 21 runs in the Giants series was shut out until Keibert Ruiz drove in Jeimer Candelario in the seventh. They grounded out in 10 at-bats, twice as many times than the totals from both Saturday and Sunday’s games. After facing opener Jake Bird for two innings, they were stifled by Karl Kauffmann, who pitched four frames.

"We couldn't get nothing going; we hit everything on the ground,” said Martinez. “But I think, for the most part, [Kauffmann] kept the ball down. When he needed to throw a fastball up, he put a little something else on it and we chased a little bit.”

The ball eventually left the park for the Nationals in the eighth. Candelario belted a three-run homer, tying his 2021 season total (16) in just 93 games.

The Nationals will focus on how they ended the game -- all six runs were scored after the seventh inning, including a ninth-inning two-run double by Alex Call -- and look to carry that into Tuesday.

They also can take away a trio of defensive highlights: Between Call (two) in center field and Lane Thomas (one) in right field, the Nats recorded three or more outfield assists in a single game for the first time in team history.

“I think the lesson we can learn is to keep battling, stay even-keeled,” Call said. “I like how we come out and we’re focused. But sometimes baseball just happens. So we just take it again tomorrow and go for it.”