The Rockies lost control Saturday night at jam-packed Coors Field.
Had they defeated the Nationals, and then repeated the feat on Sunday afternoon, the first National League West title in franchise history was theirs. No muss, no fuss, no contingency plans and no angst.
But it didn’t work out that way and the celebratory champagne stayed in the bottle, at least for another day. Now things are more complicated. Worse, the Rockies no longer control their own destiny to avoid a tiebreaker game.
The Nationals routed the Rockies 12-2, ambushing starter Jon Gray, who once again got shaky knees on the big stage. The right-hander got yanked after just two innings, having given up five runs on seven hits, including a two-run home run to Trea Turner in the second.
“I’ve thrown a lot of big games for this club. It’s just that, when things are shaky, I don’t know what to expect out of myself,” Gray said.
Asked if the pressure got to Gray in a big game, manager Bud Black replied: “This was a matter of a bad location more than anything.”
The Rockies (90-71), who saw their season-high, eight-game winning streak screech to a halt, head into the Game 162 of the regular season tied with the Dodgers for first place in the NL West. Los Angeles, which has won the last five NL West titles, beat the Giants 10-6 on Saturday afternoon at San Francisco to keep the heat on the Rockies.
If Los Angeles and Colorado finish the season even, there will be a one-game tiebreaker for the division title Monday at Dodger Stadium. The Rockies host the Nationals again Sunday, while the Dodgers face the Giants. The division winner will head directly to the NL division series vs. Atlanta. The loser will become the No. 2 wild-card team and play at either the Chicago Cubs or Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday.
Rockies all-star third baseman Nolan Arenado tried to put it all into perspective.
“We are where we are,” he said. “We made the playoffs and we aren’t done yet. We put ourselves in this position. We’ve lost a lot of tough games this year and we have always bounced back. We got swept by the Dodgers, but then we won eight in a row. We have always found a way to bounce back. We understand what’s on the line tomorrow and we’ll be ready to go.”
Colorado’s offense, sizzling for much of September, was limited to two runs on five hits by Washington right-hander Stephen Strasburg. He struck out seven in his final start of the season. The Rockies, save for Carlos Gonzalez and Arenado, had trouble barreling up Strasburg. Gonzalez hit a home run to lead off the second and Arenado blasted one to lead off the sixth.
“Strasburg is a good pitcher,” Arenado said. “His (velocity) is not like 95, 97 (mph) like you’ve seen him in the past, but still his fastball plays up, and he has really good changeup,” Arenado said. “He can throw everything for strikes. He never really missed the changeup over the plate. He didn’t make a lot of mistakes. You’ve got to give him credit. He pitched a good game.”
Gray’s performance, however, was reminiscent of last year’s wild-card game at Arizona when the Diamondbacks ripped Gray for four runs on seven hits in 1 ⅓ innings. Looking out of sync from the beginning, Gray gave up back-to-back singles to Adam Eaton and Turner to open the game. Juan Soto’s two-run double put Colorado in an early hole. Gray’s wildly inconsistent season ended with a 12-9 record and a 5.12 ERA.
“It looked like, from the dugout, that he wasn’t hitting the glove,” manager Bud Black said. “The ball was up, from the get-go. It looked like to me that he couldn’t get the ball down. And the slider wasn’t what we saw from Jon in his last start. His fastball command a little shaky, obviously, and the slider wasn’t functional.”
Former starter Chad Bettis relieved Gray and stabilized the mess, though Soto hit a two-out, solo home run off Bettis in the fifth to boost Washington’s lead to 6-1.
Arenado’s 35th home run of the season brought the crowd of 47,781 to its feet, but it wasn’t nearly enough on a night when the Rockies’ clear path to the top of the NL West hit a roadblock.
The Nationals piled it on late, scoring five runs over the seventh and eighth innings off relievers DJ Johnson and Jake McGee.
Sunday, Washington will forgo starting three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer in favor of right-hander Erick Fedde. And the Rockies will pitch left-hander Tyler Anderson over righty German Marquez, who would be taking the mound on short rest. Anderson has been battling shoulder soreness but said Friday that he’s good to go.
