Moved up to the leadoff spot, Carlos Gonzalez homered for the third consecutive game Tuesday night, breaking a tie in the eighth inning and helping the Colorado Rockies beat the Washington Nationals 4-3.
Brad Hawpe and Clint Barmes also homered for Colorado, which leads the NL wild-card race. Ubaldo Jimenez (11-9) went eight innings to win his fifth consecutive decision, allowing two runs and seven hits.
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Most Valuable Player
Rockies RHP Ubaldo Jimenez used his 99 mph fastball to stifle the Nats in a 4-3 victory. He pitched eight innings and allowed just two earned runs on seven hits. Jimenez walked one batter and struck out five. He lowered his ERA to 3.41.
All-Star Performance
Colorado RF Brad Hawpe hit a solo home run — his 17th of the season — and later added an RBI grounder to tie the game at 2 in the sixth inning. That home run was one of three solo shots for the Rockies.
Overlooked
Nats leadoff batter Nyjer Morgan again did his job. He batted 3-for-4 with an RBI single in the second inning. Morgan led off the game with a hit and immediately stole second base, but was left stranded. His average is .310.
Oops!
It was a first-pitch fastball that Nats reliever Sean Burnett instantly wanted back. Instead, Colorado leadoff batter Carlos Gonzalez belted a HR to right to start the eighth and give his team a 3-2 lead. It was just his seventh HR.
From the Dugout
Jim Riggleman saw enough when starter Craig Stammen allowed the Rockies to load bases in the sixth with one down. Relievers Ron Villone and Jason Bergmann each recorded an out, though Villone’s lone pitch allowed a run to score.
Since Jim Tracy took over for the fired Clint Hurdle on May 30, the Rockies are 48-25 overall and remain in the driver’s seat in a crowded National League wild-card chase.
— Brian McNally
Jimenez was still throwing in the high 90s mph during a 1-2-3 eighth but by then had topped 100 pitches. Closer Houston Street earned his 30th save in 31 chances, although not before allowing three hits in the ninth, including Cristian Guzman’s RBI single.
With runners at the corners, Street got Ryan Zimmerman to fly out.
Last-place Washington’s three-game winning streak ended.
Gonzalez, who has been batting second, greeted lefty reliever Sean Burnett (2-3) by driving his first pitch of the night into the Nationals’ bullpen in right field to put Colorado ahead 3-2.
It was Gonzalez’s seventh homer of the season; he entered Sunday’s doubleheader against Florida with only four but connected in each of those games.
“Carlos Gonzalez is doing some serious damage offensively right now,” Rockies manager Jim Tracy said before Tuesday’s victory.
Tracy juggled the top of his lineup, moving Gonzalez up from No. 2 for only the second game this season, while Dexter Fowler dropped down a spot and hit second for the first time in 2009.
“We’re not hurting ourselves, certainly. Not one bit,” Tracy said of the changes. “We possibly could be enhancing ourselves even more by seeing how this turns out.”
It turned out just fine, including Fowler’s 1-for-3 night, with a walk and a run scored.
Hawpe drove in Colorado’s first two runs, including making it 1-0 with his 17th homer, a shot to straightaway center in the second inning off Craig Stammen. Hawpe has homered for two straight games after going 85 at-bats without one.
Stammen made up for that a little at the plate, lacing an RBI double down the first-base line in the second to tie it at 1-1. Nyjer Morgan followed with a single to left that gave Washington a 2-1 lead.
Stammen later retired eight consecutive batters, a run of success that began in the third inning and stretched until there was one out in the sixth.
But then he wouldn’t retire another hitter, allowing consecutive singles and a walk to load the bases. With Hawpe coming up, the Nationals figured it was best to get Stammen out of there, and lefty reliever Ron Villone entered. Villone faced Hawpe — and only Hawpe — and the result was an RBI groundout that tied the game at 2-all.
It stayed that way until Gonzalez’s latest homer.
NOTES » Washington’s first game since signing No. 1 draft pick Stephen Strasburg to a record $15.1 million contract drew a crowd of only 18,192 — about 5,000 lower than the team’s average attendance this season. … Rockies LHP Jeff Francis, out all season after shoulder surgery, threw a 30-pitch bullpen session Tuesday and “came out of it fine, progressing very, very nicely,” Tracy said. “We’re hopeful we’ll have him rip-roaring and ready to go by the time we get to spring training.” … RHP Aaron Cook planned to throw bullpen sessions Tuesday and Wednesday, then start Friday against San Francisco. … INF Mike Morse joined the Nationals; he was called up Monday from Triple-A Syracuse.
