Colorado Rockies: Super bullpen proves to be super against the Nats

The Colorado Rockies prevailed in a 2-1 win against the Washington Nationals to win their third straight and hand the Nationals their third straight lost.

The Colorado Rockies won on Friday night by a score of 2-1. The Rockies held the Nationals to just four hits and all of them were allowed by Rockies starter Kyle Freeland.

The Rockies pitching

Freeland threw 104 pitches in only 4 2/3 innings. In the first inning, he walked Anthony Rendon and allowed a single to Ryan Zimmerman but got out of the inning without allowing any further damage. However, he labored a bit as he threw 24 pitches in the first inning alone.

More from Rox Pile

• A Colorado Rockies Thanksgiving
• Colorado Rockies: What if Todd Helton had played football instead?
• Colorado Rockies: Charlie Blackmon out for the season
• Colorado Rockies: Injuries shift look of roster ahead of Dodgers series
• Colorado Rockies: Has Sean Bouchard earned a second look in 2023?

Freeland struck out the side in the second inning but still threw 16 pitches and, in the third, he threw 24 more pitches while allowing a double to Trea Turner and another walk to Rendon. He retired the side in the fourth and added 15 more pitches to his count to bring it up to 79.

He added 22 more after allowing a single to pitching counterpart Tanner Roark, another walk but this time, it was to Turner, a single to Rendon, and a sac fly to Bryce Harper to tie the game at 1-1. That would knock him out of the game. Just to Rendon alone, Freeland made 21 pitches.

Scott Oberg came in and he started the bullpen’s dominance. He allowed a four pitch walk to Wilmer Difo in the sixth inning. Otherwise, in 4 1/3 innings, the bullpen did not allow a base runner.

Oberg went 1 1/3 innings, Bryan Shaw went an inning striking out two, Mike Dunn went a third of an inning and Adam Ottavino went two-third of an inning striking out both batters. Rockies closer Wade Davis slammed the door shut as he struck out two to end the game and get his sixth save on the season.

The Rockies offense

Combined, the Rockies offense only got five total hits. Gerardo Parra, who will be appealing his 4-game suspension that was handed down by Major League Baseball before Friday’s game, went 2-for-4 with two singles and Trevor Story went 1-for-3 with a single without a strikeout (big shocker there).

However, the both runs and two of the Rockies five hits came from Carlos Gonzalez. He hit a solo home run off Tanner Roark in the fourth inning for his third home run of the year. In the sixth inning, he had a sacrifice fly to score DJ LeMahieu (who got on by an error). He also had a single in the ninth inning to cap off his 2-for-4 day with two RBI and the homer.

Next: LeMahieu's future in Denver hinges Trevor Story's success

The Rockies will take on the Nationals again today at 11 AM MT. It will be Jon Gray against Max Scherzer so it will be a battle of aces between the two teams.