Colorado drops a close Game One, Gray exits early with calf injury

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In a back-and-forth Game One of a day-night doubleheader between Colorado and Washington, it was mostly a case of good news, bad news for the Rockies.

Jon Gray gave up only a run through four innings, but exited early after a right calf injury from a line drive. Rockies manufactured two runs in a low-scoring affair, but went 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position, stranding ten runners on base.

Black said of the injury to his starting pitcher, “As the game went on, it started effecting him a little bit…. He worked through the inning, but I think it effected his control and command.”

Gray gave up only a hit through the first three innings, walking one and being charged with an intentional walk to another. He said of the calf bruise, “It got really stiff. I was having trouble staying tall in my delivery and putting weight on it. That’s frustrating. I felt like all of my stuff was working early.”

The Rockies accomplished the first run of the game together off Nationals’ starter Erick Fedde with some well executed at bats, something severely lacking in the past few weeks. Yonder Alonso got his first start in purple Wednesday and doubled to begin the fourth. Raimel Tapia pulled a ground ball to first base, advancing the base runner 90 feet, and Ryan McMahon lofted a fly ball the opposite way to left field for the sacrifice fly, allowing Alonso to score.

Gray found himself in trouble in the fourth with a one out walk to Matt Adams. Kurt Suzuki singled and Brian Dozier followed with a walk of his own. With the bases loaded, Gray got an infield fly for the second out, but could not escape the jam. Pinch hitter Gerardo Parra struck once more against his old club, albeit softly, with base on balls to force home a runner.

But Chad Bettis came out for the fifth inning and gave up a 394 ft home run to right field on his first pitch to Adam Eaton, putting ahead the Nationals 2-1.  Two innings later, Carlos Estévez served up one on his first offering to Anthony Rendon, a 393 ft blast to left center to  give Washington a 3-2 lead.

Colorado’s second run came on the same formula as the first. Responding to the one-run deficit in the sixth inning in the form of another Alonso double, his third in four at bats with the team, Tapia tapped a ground ball up the middle that was later changed to an infield single and McMahon’s second run batted in of the afternoon tied the score at two apiece.

Ultimately, it was not enough and the Rockies fall to 7-20 since June 21 and 3-15 since June 30. Conversely, the Nationals move to baseball’s best record since May 24 (35-15).

The second half of the doubleheader is scheduled for 5:05pm MST and will feature a matchup of lefties: Colorado’s Kyle Freeland and Washington’s Patrick Corbin.