The visiting Colorado Rockies will look for their third straight win, which would match their best run of the season, when they play the second game of a four-game series against the host Washington Nationals on Tuesday.
Colorado stunned the reeling Nationals with a three-run ninth inning Monday night to took the series opener 6-4. Since dropping to 9-50 with a loss to the New York Mets on June 1, the Rockies are 6-7.
Meanwhile, the Nationals are sinking. At the end of May, the Nationals were 28-30. Since then, they have gone 2-12 thanks primarily to an unproductive offense.
Washington scored four runs on Monday, but closer Kyle Finnegan allowed his first two home runs of the season and the Nationals lost their ninth straight game.
Colorado right-hander Antonio Senzatela (1-10, 7.23 ERA) will oppose right-hander Mike Soroka (3-4, 5.14) on Tuesday.
Senzatela allowed seven runs twice in his past three starts, though in between those outings he threw four-plus scoreless innings against the New York Mets. On Thursday, he yielded seven runs on nine hits in four-plus innings of an 8-7 loss to the San Francisco Giants.
Senzatela earned his only win on April 20 against the Nationals, when he tossed six innings of one-run ball in Denver. He is 1-1 with a 4.24 ERA in five career games (three starts) versus Washington.
Soroka pitched six shutout innings against the Texas Rangers on June 6, then gave up four runs on three hits — two of them home runs — and three walks in five innings against the Mets on Thursday. The Nationals’ ninth-inning rally fell short in a 4-3 loss.
“Wish it could’ve been more than five, but kind of kept them in it and saw what we did at the end,” Soroka said. “Obviously a couple of mistakes made me pay.”
Soroka lost his only career appearances against Colorado, allowing two unearned runs on one hit over four relief innings on June 30, 2024.
On Monday night, Hunter Goodman hit two homers for Colorado, the second one in the ninth inning, and Mickey Moniak’s two-run homer capped the comeback. Moniak added a triple.
“Mickey’s been having good at-bats for a couple weeks now,” Rockies interim manager Warren Schaeffer said. “A calm at bat in a big spot. Big triple early and then a big homer late.”
Rockies first baseman Michael Toglia, demoted to Triple-A Albuquerque on May 31, was recalled on Monday and had an RBI single. Toglia hit .194 in 54 games before being sent down. In 11 games for Albuquerque, he hit .273 with three home runs and 16 RBIs, including a grand slam on June 10 as part of a seven-RBI game.
“That was the turning point where I felt, ‘OK, I’m back,'” he said, according to MLB.com. “I can cover the zone how I need to cover it. The pitch was in, off the plate, and to be able to keep it fair told me that I’ve been doing a lot of things right.”
Washington’s Daylen Lile hit his first major league homer on Monday, and James Wood went 2-for-3 with a double, a two-run homer and a walk. Over his past six games, Wood is 10-for-23 (.435) with two homers, six RBIs and five runs.
Third baseman Brady House, Washington’s first-round draft pick in 2021, went 0-for-3 with a walk in his big-league debut. The night ended in disappointment for his team, though.
“When you get a chance to put your closer in for the ninth, that’s what you want,” Nationals manager Dave Martinez said. “Today, we just came out on the wrong side of the field. I’m excited about the way the kids played. … Those guys are going to be all right. They’ll help us win games. This was a tough one.”
–Field Level Media
