Here’s What Just Happened

Andres Chaparro opened the scoring with a three-run homer in the first. Colorado answered in the third when Willi Castro doubled home three runs, briefly turning a rough start into a 3-3 game.

Washington did not allow that tie to develop a personality. Jacob Young homered in the sixth, CJ Abrams hit a two-run shot in the seventh, and Daylen Lile added an RBI triple in the ninth.

The Nationals won 7-3 because the first answer was powerful and the next two were timed to remove any thought of a Colorado comeback.

The Moment Everyone Knew

Young’s sixth-inning homer was the clean break. The Rockies had recovered from Chaparro’s first-inning damage, and Kyle Freeland had moved through two scoreless frames after the tie.

Young changed that with one swing. Washington led 4-3, and the Nationals’ bullpen had already begun shutting down Colorado’s lineup.

Abrams followed one inning later with a two-run homer. The lead moved from fragile to comfortable before Coors Field could begin one of its usual arithmetic experiments.

The Competent Parties

Curtis Mead and Young each had three hits. Chaparro drove in three, Abrams drove in two, and Washington collected 12 hits.

Riley Cornelio earned the win with 1 2/3 scoreless innings. Matt Krook added a scoreless inning, and Tom Cosgrove worked the final two without allowing a hit.

Colorado’s best sequence belonged to Jake McCarthy and Castro. McCarthy had two hits, and Castro’s bases-clearing double provided all three Rockies runs. After that, six Colorado hits and five walks never became another scoring inning.

Colorado’s lineup also had to contend with the shape of Washington’s attack. The Nationals did not rely on one hitter repeating the same damage. Chaparro struck first, Young broke the tie, and Abrams supplied the separation. Three hitters punished three different mistakes, making the power feel less like a hot inning and more like a lineup-wide problem.

Mute the Group Chat

The Rockies tied the game and then went silent. That is a particularly expensive way to spend a three-run comeback at home.

Freeland allowed four runs over six innings. The bullpen surrendered three more, while Colorado’s lineup failed to score after the third.

A rebuilding team can point to the rally as evidence of life. It also has to explain why the game offered six more innings and produced no second response.

Washington’s bullpen made that silence decisive. Four relievers combined for 5 2/3 scoreless innings, and the Rockies never moved another runner across after tying the game.

The Official Overreaction

The verified Home-Run Share was six of Washington’s seven runs.

Desk ruling: the Nationals used power as a sequence, not a one-inning trick. Chaparro built the lead, Young reclaimed it, and Abrams made sure Colorado’s only comeback remained a brief administrative error.