Washington, DC – Jhoulys Chacin threw seven scoreless innings to lead the Colorado Rockies past the Washington Nationals, 7-1, in the third installment of a four-game set at Nationals Park.
Chacin (6-3) scattered just five hits and walked one with three strikeouts for his third straight win, after going winless for more than a month.
"Another great outing by Jhoulys, he was really in control of the game," said Rockies manager Walt Weiss. "A good looking performance by Jhoulys."
DJ LeMahieu finished 3-for-5 with a home run and two RBI and Nolan Arenado had his own solo shot as well. Michael Cuddyer, Corey Dickerson and Chacin each contributed with an RBI apiece for the Rockies, who snapped a five-game losing streak.
Dan Haren (4-9) had his shortest outing of the season, going just 3 1/3 innings while surrendering six runs on seven hits. He hasn't won a game since May 9 and the Nationals are winless in his last eight starts.
"I've done video and changed the way I pitch," said Haren. "At this point I'm just searching on ways to get better."
Ryan Zimmerman's homer in the ninth accounted for Washington's lone run.
LeMahieu's first homer of the year in the first put the Rockies on the board.
Carlos Gonzalez followed with a double to left and crossed the plate with a Cuddyer single that slipped between the left side to extend his career- long hitting streak to 20 games. In Dickerson's first Major League at-bat, he connected on a two-out, RBI double to center to make it 3-0.
Wilin Rosario led off the fourth with a single up the middle and Dickerson smacked a double to right to put runners in scoring position with no outs. A wild pitch scored Rosario. After a ground out, Josh Rutledge was plunked and Chacin helped his own cause with a soft liner to right that chased Haren from the game and upped the lead to 5-0. A 10-pitch at-bat for LeMahieu against Ross Ohlendorf ended with a ground ball to center to add another run.
Arenado's home run to left in the eighth gave Colorado a seven run cushion.
Game Notes
Cuddyer has reached base safely in 39 straight games since April 23, a new Rockies record ... Adam LaRoche has hit safely in 18 straight games at Nationals Park ... Washington was 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position ... The Nationals have hit at least one home run in 81 consecutive series ... Ohlendorf yielded one run on four hits in 4 2/3 innings.
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