Washington, DC – Michael Cuddyer went 3-for-4 with a homer and four RBI to extend his hitting streak to 21 games, and the Colorado Rockies held on for a 7-6 decision over the Washington Nationals to earn a split of a four-game series.
Nolan Arenado also homered for Colorado, while Wilin Rosario had two hits and an RBI as well to help the Rockies record their second straight victory after dropping the first two tests of this set.
Colorado battered Nationals starter Ross Detwiler (2-6) for nine hits over 3 2/3 innings to jump out to a 7-0 lead, then survived a four-run rally by the Nationals in the bottom of the eighth that cut the margin to one.
Jorge De La Rosa (8-4) turned in six solid innings to earn his eighth win of the season, holding Washington to two runs on seven hits.
Jhonatan Solano delivered a pinch-hit, two-run double in the eighth that pulled the Nats within 7-6, with Steve Lombardozzi going 3-for-5 with a run scored in the loss.
Cuddyer accounted for the first run of the day with an opposite-field homer to lead off the top of the second inning, and the Rockies scored three times each over the next two frames to temporarily break the game open.
Josh Rutledge opened with the third with a base hit before racing home on DJ LeMahieu's one-out single to left. Detwiler was then able to get the dangerous Carlos Gonzalez to ground into a force play, but Cuddyer and Rosario came through with RBI singles to pad Colorado's advantage to 4-0.
"I think we're still pushing forward, it just wasn't very good on my part today," said Detwiler.
Detwiler ran into more trouble in the fourth, as Arenado crushed a fastball deep into the left-field seats for a 5-0 lead and the Rockies later loaded the bases with three singles that ended the left-hander's afternoon. Craig Stammen came on an relief and was promptly greeted by Cuddyer's third hit of the day, a single that brought in two more runs.
"It's nice [when you're] helping your team win," said Cuddyer of his hot stretch.
De La Rosa, who was coming off a no-decision at Toronto in which he yielded one hit over seven shutout innings, wasn't scored upon until the bottom of the fourth. A Jayson Werth single followed by Ian Desmond's double put two Nats aboard with no outs, with Chris Marrero and Kurt Suzuki driving in runs via a groundout and sacrifice fly, respectively.
Washington failed to close the gap after stranding the bases loaded against reliever Rob Scahill in the seventh, but struck for four runs against the Colorado bullpen an inning afterward to pull within one.
Singles by Lombardozzi and pinch-hitter Denard Span along with a walk issued by Matt Belisle enabled the Nationals to fill the sacks once again, with two runs crossing the plate on Ryan Zimmerman's two-out single to short in which Rutledge kicked the ball into the outfield and was charged with an additional error.
Rockies manager Walt Weiss summoned closer Rex Brothers from the bullpen, but his first pitch was socked by Solano into the gap in left-center that cut the margin to 7-6.
Brothers was able to strike out Desmond with the tying run on second, however, then retired the side in order in the ninth to nail down his fourth save of the year.
"Obviously, you don't want that to happen," said Cuddyer of Washington's near- comeback. "But in the grand scheme of things, we won the game and that's what matters. We were able to bend but not break."
Game Notes
Cuddyer had been tied with St. Louis' David Freese for the longest hitting streak in the majors this season, and he's now reached base safely in a club- record 41 straight games ... Werth went 2-for-2 before being removed for a pinch-runner in the fourth when sustaining an apparent injury to his left leg ... De La Rosa improved to 5-0 in six day starts this year and has allowed just three runs in 27 innings over his last four road assignments ... The Rockies are 16-6 on the road when scoring first and 0-15 as the visitor when the opponent has done so ... LeMahieu finished the four-game set 7-for-18 with five RBI.
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