The Nationals’ three-run lead, almost as soon as it arrived, went away when the Rockies came up in the bottom of the fourth. There, Jordan Zimmermann’s night-long problems met an unfortunate hop on a grounder to Willie Harris, and the Rockies scored three runs to tie the game at 4.
Zimmermann lasted just four innings, throwing 94 pitches in that time and walking four. Funny—we were just talking to Manny Acta this afternoon about how the 23-year-old is starting to figure out the routine of pitching every five days in the big leagues. Acta cautioned the right-hander would still make his share of mistakes, and he certainly did tonight, walking four batters. Still, he only gave up two earned runs. The other two came on Harris’ error in the fourth inning, but we won’t give him too much grief about it.
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Dexter Fowler hit an easy grounder toward Harris at second base, but just as it got there, it took a funny hop and bounced up toward Harris, hitting him in what we’ll just call an unfortunate spot. As anyone who’s ever had that happen will understand, he had other problems than a routine grounder after it happened. But nevertheless, the Rockies used the error to score a pair of extra runs on Clint Barmes’ single, and that’s how we’re tied at 4.
The Nats had two chances to pull ahead, getting the first two men on base in the fith before Ryan Zimmerman grounded into his second double play of the night. And in the sixth, reliever Franklin Morales entered the game with two outs and struck out Nyjer Morgan with the bases loaded.
