The Rockies rocked LoDo Saturday night with a four-run ninth inning.
Alas, the rally fizzled when Carl Edwards struck out Kris Bryant with two men on base, leaving the Rockies as 7-6 losers in front of 34,503 fans at Coors Field.
The Rockies, losers of five of their last six games on the heels of a 2-0 start, got another shaky performance from a starting pitcher and received a pedestrian performance from their offense until Mike Moustakas crushed a two-run homer to right field in the ninth. It was Moustakas’ first homer in a Rockies uniform.
That set the fuse for Colorado’s rally, which included a two-run single by pinch-hitter Elias Diaz. But it was too little, too late.
“Obviously we did come up a little bit short but we battled all the way until the end,” said Moustakas, who hit his homer after a 10-pitch at-bat against lefty Anthony Banda. “It was a lot of fun, even though we did lose. But it kind of sets the tone for the rest of the season for us. There’s no quit in these boys.”
Left-hander Austin Gomber, who endured some hard luck in the third inning, gave up five runs in 4 2/3 innings.
The Nationals were powered by designated hitter Stone Garrett — a homer, two doubles and a single. He came to the plate in the ninth needing a triple to complete the cycle but lefty Brent Suter struck him out.
Gomber was sharp early on, striking out four over his first two innings and brushing off Garrett’s one-out double in the first. But the baseball gods, in conjunction with the major league replay officials in New York, stuck it to Gomber in the third inning.
Victor Robles led off with a blooper to center where Yonathan Daza raced in to make a sliding catch. Or so Daza thought. The ball came out of his glove as he rolled over and umpire Cory Blaser ruled that Daza dropped the ball. The Rockies challenged the call but lost when the replay officials said that Daza did not secure and control the ball. They also ruled he did not let go of the ball intentionally.
“That was crazy,” Daza said. “I thought I had it the whole time and I was just trying to get ready to throw it to the second baseman (Ryan McMahon). It was a little frustrating because you are trying to do the best you can.
“I had to run a really long way for that ball and I thought I made the catch. Everybody in the stadium knew that, but it is what it is.”
Robles ended up on second with a double and advanced to third on CJ Abrams’ sacrifice bunt. Alex Call followed with an infield single to third baseman Alan Trejo, setting the stage for Garrett’s three-run homer to right-center.
Washington’s two-run fifth rested on Gomber’s shoulders. He gave up a one-out walk to Abrams, a double to Alex Call and a two-run single to Garrett as the Nats increased their lead to 5-0.
In 4 2/3 innings, Gomber was charged with five runs on seven hits. He walked one and fanned five. After two starts, the lefty is 0-2 with a 6.75 ERA.
“I thought I responded well to all of that tonight, but one guy (Garrett) had the game of his life tonight,” Gomber said. “I threw him all kinds of different pitches and he made us pay, for sure. I did what I had to do. I executed a lot of pitchers, except to (Garrett).”
Colorado carved out a run in the fifth on catcher Brian Serven’s RBI single to score Harold Castro. The Rockies cut the lead to 5-2 in the seventh on a leadoff double by Daza and a sacrifice fly by Ryan McMahon.
The Nationals, however, tacked on a run in the seventh off Connor Seabold and another run off Suter in the eighth.
Colorado will attempt to earn a split in the four-game series on Sunday afternoon.
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