Rockies 7, Nationals 6
WASHINGTON -- Michael Cuddyer had three hits, including a home run, and four RBI as the Colorado Rockies beat the Washington Nationals 7-6 on Sunday and gain a split of the four-game series.
Cuddyer has now hit in a career-high 21 games in a row as the Rockies (38-37) took a 7-0 lead before Washington staged a comeback.
The Rockies got strong pitching from starter Jorge De La Rosa (8-4), who allowed two runs and seven hits in six innings before Rob Scahill took over in the seventh.
Washington (37-38) lost for the fifth time in eight games as starting pitcher Ross Detwiler (2-6) was lifted in the fourth after Nolan Arenado gave the Rockies a 5-0 lead with a leadoff homer to left.
Later in the inning, Carlos Gonzalez singled to load the bases with two outs and that was the end for Detwiler, who gave up seven runs in 3 2/3 innings.
Craig Stammen took over and allowed a two-run single to Cuddyer to make it 7-0.
Colorado took a 4-0 lead in the third on RBI singles by DJ LeMahieu, Cuddyer and Wilin Rosario.
Cuddyer had given the Rockies a 1-0 lead in the second with a homer to right, his 11th home run of the year. He extended his hitting streak in his first at-bat in all four games of the series and began the day with an average of .332.
Washington scored two runs in the fourth on a RBI groundout by Chris Marrero and a sacrifice fly Kurt Suzuki to make it 7-2.
Washington loaded the bases in the seventh against Scahill, but Marrero flied out to right to end the threat.
Matt Belisle came on to pitch the eighth for the Rockies and gave up a two-out infield single to Ryan Zimmerman with the bases loaded to score one run. Another run came home to make it 7-4 when shortstop Josh Rutledge booted the hit by Zimmerman.
The Rockies brought in reliever Rex Brothers to face pinch-hitter Jhonatan Solano, who doubled in two runs to make it 7-6. Brothers struck out Ian Desmond to end the eighth and then retired Washington in the ninth in order for the save.
Steve Lombardozzi had three hits for the Nationals, who entered the game with a team batting average of .232.
Detwiler had given up seven hits and four earned runs in six innings in his last start at Philadelphia.
"He should be better this time out," Nationals manager Davey Johnson said before the game of Detwiler, who did not pitch from May 15 to June 13 because of a strained back.
But that was far from the case.
NOTES: Washington RF Jayson Werth, who missed Saturday's game with flu-like symptoms, was back in the starting lineup on Sunday. "That is a big boost for our lineup," Johnson said. Werth singled in the fourth and then was lifted for pinch-runner Roger Bernadina. ... Rookie Jeff Kobernus got the start in center for the Nationals over veteran Denard Span. Marrero, with 119 career at-bats at game time, got the start at first as veteran Adam LaRoche was on the bench. "Span is like an Iron Man. He plays every day," said Johnson, who wanted to give Span a day off. ... Cuddyer, a native of the Tidewater region, has the longest hitting streak for the Rockies since Larry Walker hit in 21 games in a row in 1999. Cuddyer has reached base 40 games in a row. ... Arenado hit two homers in the series and has seven this year. He had two hits Sunday, as did Rosario.
