Mitchell Parker delivers seven sharp innings as Nats down Rockies

Luis Garcia Jr. belted a three-run homer and Mitchell Parker allowed one run over seven innings, lifting the host Washington Nationals to a 6-1 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Wednesday.

Parker (7-7) permitted five hits and one walk while striking out six before exiting after 83 pitches to atone for a disastrous outing last Thursday. In that contest, Parker yielded nine runs on 10 hits — including two homers — in a 13-3 road loss to the Philadelphia Phillies.

Joey Gallo ripped an RBI double in the second inning in his return to Washington’s starting lineup after being activated from the injured list on Tuesday. He had been on the IL due to a strained left hamstring.

Keibert Ruiz and Jacob Young each had a run-scoring single and James Wood added three hits to pace the Nationals’ 12-hit attack.

Brendan Rodgers had an RBI double in the seventh inning for the Rockies, who saw their modest two-game winning streak come to a halt.

Washington opened the scoring in the second inning after Jose Tena reached on an infield single, advanced to third on Andres Chaparro’s single and scored on Gallo’s double to center field.

The Nationals broke the game open in the third inning. Ruiz’s RBI single plated Alex Call to give Washington a 2-0 lead before Garcia deposited a 1-0 fastball from Tanner Gordon (0-5) over the wall in center field for a three-run blast. The homer was Garcia’s 15th of the season and first since Aug. 8.

Washington claimed a 6-0 lead after Chaparro doubled to lead off the sixth inning and scored on Young’s single to right field.

Colorado finally got to Parker in the seventh inning as Ryan McMahon reached on a bunt single and scored on Rodgers’ double to center field. Parker, however, settled down and retired the next three batters to end the inning.

Gordon took the loss after yielding five runs on eight hits in four innings. He walked one and struck out two.

–Field Level Media