Washington was three outs away from a series sweep of Colorado, but ran out of gas, or anyway, closers.
Fernando Rodney, pitching for the third time in 28 hours, gave up two runs in the ninth, and the Nats dropped an 8-7 decision to the Rockies, who avoided the sweep with the W.
The Nationals welcomed back ace Max Scherzer, who left after five innings, and 86 pitches, looking a bit tight on a couple of pickoff attempts in the fifth, in his first start back from a stint on the IL.
Scherzer gave up three runs on four hits in five innings, striking out eight and walking two.
The Nats tied the game in the bottom of the fifth on a three-run homer by Anthony Rendon, his 22nd of the season.
The Rockies took the lead back in the sixth on a Ryan McMahon two-run homer. A Gerardo Parra pinch-hit two-run single tied the game at 5-5 in the bottom half of the sixth, and Parra came around to score on a Trea Turner RBI single.
Matt Adams hit a solo homer in the seventh, his 16th of the year, to pad the lead to 7-5 in the seventh.
A Daniel Murphy solo shot in the eighth narrowed the lead to one. Another ex-Nat, Ian Desmond, led off the ninth with a solo homer to center to knot the score at 7-7.
Murphy plated the go-ahead run by beating out a potential inning-ending double-play ball with runners on the corners.
Juan Soto reached on a walk with one out in the ninth, then made his way to second with a stolen base, but the Nats could not dent Rockies closer Wade Davis, who closed things out for his 15th save.
Rodney (0-2, 7.20 ERA) took the loss.
Closer Sean Doolittle, like Rodney, had pitched in both games of Wednesday’s doubleheader sweep, and was not available Thursday.
Washington next welcomes the Los Angeles Dodgers to Nats Park for a three-game series beginning Friday.
Story by Chris Graham
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