Rockies Suffer Most Lopsided Loss Of The Season

DENVER (The Sports Xchange) - The Washington Nationals hit three home runs Wednesday night as their potent offense again went into high gear and pounded the Colorado Rockies 11-4.

The Nationals have amassed 26 runs on 28 hits while winning two straight from the Rockies and improving to 8-1 on a road trip that ends Thursday. Washington has won nine of its past 10 games.

"We have depth, we have power and most of them are swinging pretty good right now," Nationals manager Dusty Baker said. "We get greedy. We smell kind of blood in the water and they jump on it. This is what we preach all the time."

Trea Turner, Ryan Zimmerman and Daniel Murphy homered for the Nationals. Bryce Harper went 4-for-4 with a double, a walk, an RBI and two runs. It was his fifth career four-hit game and third this season.

Adam Eaton, Turner, Harper, Zimmerman and Murphy -- the top five hitters in the lineup -- combined to go 13-for-24 with two doubles, three homers, 11 RBIs and 10 runs.

"Sustained pressure each at-bat," said Murphy, whose three-run homer off Chris Rusin highlighted a four-run seventh and gave the Nationals a 9-2 lead. "Guys are having great at bats. Starting at the top with Trea and Eaton putting pressure on them, and then Bryce and Zimm didn't look like they took a single pitch off tonight. Just sustained pressure. It's the kind of ballpark where if you can traffic on the basepaths, it seems like the holes opened up."

Rockies starter Tyler Chatwood (2-3), who had won his previous two starts, gave up three runs in a three-batter stretch in the fifth. Turner, who fell a triple shy of the cycle after hitting for one Tuesday night, hit his second homer with one out. Harper walked and Zimmerman followed with his eighth homer to put the Nationals ahead 5-0.

"I didn't really command anything," Chatwood said. "My misses are bad right now. I think that's the big thing that's hurting me ... That fifth inning, made two mistakes, missed up over the plate and (they) hit them both out of the park."

Eaton singled home two runs with two outs in the second after Chatwood walked pitcher Tanner Roark. Chatwood got ahead of Roark 0-2 but walked him on six pitches to load the bases for Eaton.

Murphy began that inning with a single. Chatwood was ahead of Jayson Werth 0-2 but walked him with one out and then walked Roark with two outs.

"That's embarrassing," said Chatwood, who yielded season highs in runs (five) and hits (eight) in a season-low five innings. "Two guys 0-2, and you end up walking them. That should probably never happen, and it happened twice in an inning."

The loss was the most lopsided this season for the Rockies, who have dropped two straight for the second time this season. Chatwood and German Marquez, the Rockies' starters and losers the past two games, allowed 17 hits and 13 runs in nine innings.

And the Colorado bullpen, so stout in the team's fast start, yielded 13 runs in the past two games after allowing 20 in the first 19 games of the season.

"That's a good group that right now is playing very well," Rockies manager Bud Black said of the Nationals. "When you're playing well, doesn't matter whether they're on the road or at home."

Roark (3-0) allowed three singles through four scoreless innings but gave up a one-out single in the fifth followed by three straight walks and a run-scoring force out to trim the Nationals' lead to 5-2.

On his 41st pitch of the inning and 104th and final pitch of the game, Roark -- with runners on first and third -- struck out Carlos Gonzalez on a 3-2 curveball. A disgusted Gonzalez slammed his bat to the ground and broke it.

"I didn't want to let him beat me," Roark said. "Ball flies here obviously. I didn't want him to hit a three-run jack to make it 5-5. I was trying to do everything I can to get him out. I threw the kitchen sink at him."

NOTES: Rockies CF Charlie Blackmon extended his hitting streak to 11 games. ... Colorado RF Carlos Gonzalez played his 1,000th game with the team. ... Rockies RHP Chad Qualls (forearm tightness) was reinstated after beginning the season on the 10-day disabled list and gave up two runs (one earned) in 1 1/3 innings. ... Rockies LHP Mike Dunn (back spasms) was placed on the 10-day disabled list retroactive to Sunday. ... Nationals LHP Matt Grace was recalled from Triple-A Syracuse and pitched the final 1 1/3 innings, allowing no runs. ... Washington RHP Koda Glover (left hip impingement) was placed on the 10-day disabled list.