Colorado, for its part, walked in banged up at the top of the rotation. Kyle Freeland landed on the 15-day IL with cervical radiculopathy, and both Jose Quintana and Chase Dollander are on extended shelf time, with Dollander recently undergoing an internal brace procedure on his elbow. Kyle Karros is out too, in concussion protocol. A 52-81 club losing rotation and lineup pieces by the week isn't exactly gaining ground, and it showed up in the price action, with sharp money notably stacked on Washington.
Coming into Thursday, the Rockies had actually won 2 of the first 3 meetings in this series and were riding a pair of wins to close out their trip. Washington had dropped 2 straight. That flipped almost immediately. The Nationals scored twice in the first, added a run in the 4th and 5th, then blew it open with a 3-run 8th to close it out 7-1, out-hitting Colorado 13-to-5 and squaring the season series at 2-2.
It wasn't a artistic masterpiece so much as a get-well game for a Washington offense that had scored a total of 2 runs across the two losses that opened this series. Colorado's lone run came in the 3rd and the Rockies never threatened again, a quiet finish for a lineup that had put up 13 runs of its own just a day earlier.
Neither club is playing for much beyond pride at this point in August, but for two teams buried in their divisions, a laugher like this one at least offers a jolt heading into the stretch run. Washington will take the version of its lineup that showed up Thursday over the one that got shut down the two days prior.