WASHINGTON -- Adam Ottavino proved he is human when he gave up a ninth-inning, two-out run against the Nationals on Saturday afternoon and saw his club-record scoreless streak end at 37 games, covering 31 1/3 innings. But he overcame it to finish the frame, and he finished the day happy -- especially for a bullpen that had been beleaguered -- after a 9-4 Rockies victory in 11 innings at Nationals Park.
Jayson Werth popped a soft single that landed just shy of left fielder David Dahl to drive in Ben Revere, who had walked and stolen second, to tie the game at 4. Ottavino then put the game further at risk by throwing a wild pitch, as Werth -- who took second on the throw home on his single -- advanced to third.
But Ottavino kept the game going by forcing a Daniel Murphy groundout to end the ninth.
"It's disappointing, obviously, when he got the hit, but the game's over if the next guy gets a hit," Ottavino said. "[Murphy's] a great hitter, but I tried to battle at that point and he grounded out. He hit it hard, so I got kind of fortunate."
Of Werth's base hit, which came on a slider, Ottavino said, "I've owned him in my career, but he battled me really good today. I wanted it further away, but if I'm going to be honest, I didn't execute it perfectly. The inning turned on the walk."
But a relief staff that had given up 13 runs in seven innings over the previous three games was stellar on Saturday. The run off Ottavino was the only one in six bullpen innings.
Jordan Lyles replaced starter Jorge De La Rosa, who pitched five innings, and threw 1 2/3 one-hit frames. Boone Logan got two key outs, inducing a Murphy liner striking out Bryce Harper. Carlos Estévez had a strikeout and a walk before Ottavino replaced him and fanned Ryan Zimmerman to finish the eighth.
After Ottavino, Jake McGee struck out two in a clean 10th for his first Rockies victory, and Matt Carasiti overcame two singles in the bottom of the 11th with three strikeouts to end a run of five games in which he had yielded a run.
"We've been struggling bad out there," Ottavino said. "I didn't want to contribute to that today. I did, but I'm happy for our guys."