None of that mattered once the first pitch was thrown. Colorado came in having lost 5 straight, Washington had just throttled the Rockies 13-3 a night earlier, and neither storyline predicted what actually happened at Nationals Park.
Colorado scratched across two runs in the fourth and added another in the fifth, enough support for Adams and a Rockies bullpen that finally looked competent for a change. Washington's only run came in the fourth, and the Nationals never found a second rally, managing 5 hits against a lineup that's been an afterthought most of the summer.
Wood's absence continues to hollow out the middle of Washington's order, and Alvarez, now 2-5, had another outing where the results didn't match the swing-and-miss stuff he showed against Texas. Colorado, missing its own shortstop, found a way to make it stand up anyway.
For a Rockies team with a handful of arms already lost for the season, one win won't fix a 50-81 record, but it's the kind of get-right game a club like that needs before the calendar turns to September.