Washington Nationals 7-3 over Colorado Rockies: Patrick Corbin earns first curly-W of 2022…

Yeah, yeah, pitcher wins are dumb, but it’s also nice to get one after starting the year 0-7, so get over it and let Patrick Corbin have this one…

Feel vs Results:

In spite of the results in his last two starts (14 H, 10 ER in 11 IP, 8.18 ERA, 8.66 FIP, 3 walks, 8 Ks, 5 HRs allowed, .304/.353/.630 line against), Patrick Corbin said he’s felt good while on the mound in those outings after he gave up five runs on eight hits in five innings of work against the Milwaukee Brewers last time out before tonight.

“I feel like I say this a lot, you look up there and I gave up five, and the box score looks bad, but I felt good, I feel like I pitched better than the outcome,” Corbin told reporters.

“I thought he threw the ball well,” manager Davey Martinez said after the lefty’s start on the road in American Family Field.

“He made his pitches, a couple ground balls, the line doesn’t look good, but he attacked the zone, you know, got some weak contact, and all of a sudden next thing you know he’s out of the game with five runs, which is frustrating.”

Back home in the nation’s capital tonight, Corbin stranded two in the first, after giving up a one-out double by Yonathan Daza and a two-out walk to C.J. Cron, then came back out for the top of the second, with a 4-0 lead, and gave up a leadoff double to left by Brandon Rodgers, and a one-out RBI single by José Iglesias which got the Rockies on the board, 4-1.

Daza walked with one down in the Rockies’ third, and scored on a triple to right by Charlie Blackmon, who came in on a groundout by Cron in the next at-bat, 4-3.

It was 5-3 in the fifth when the Rockies loaded the bases with one out, but Corbin got a 6-4-3 DP out of Cron to escape another jam, with the 11-pitch inning leaving him at 68 total over five.

A quick, five-pitch, 1-2-3 sixth had him at just 73, with 27 pitches total between the 4th and 6th, after he threw 46 in the first three frames.

Corbin came back out in the seventh, but was lifted after a one-out single by Elias Díaz…

Patrick Corbin’s Line: 6.1 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 3 Ks, 80 P, 54 S, 10/3 GO/FO.

Márquez vs D.C. Round 2:

Nationals’ hitters put up 10 hits, took two walks, and scored seven runs on Rockies’ starter Germán Márquez when the Nationals were in Coors Field earlier this season, with two HRs off the right-hander (one each by Josh Bell and Juan Soto) in a 10-2 win for the visitors that night.

Colorado’s manager, Bud Black, pointed to Márquez’s lack of command when asked about the results for the starter before that outing, and said afterwards there were issues with his mechanics as well.

“It’s partly mechanics, it’s partly some (lack of) concentration, and it’s partly not being as (aggressive) as he needs to be,” Black explained, as quoted by Denver Post writer Patrick Saunders.

In three starts between that outing and tonight’s matchup with the Nationals in the nation’s capital, the 27-year-old pitcher was (1-2) with a 5.00 ERA (10 ER in 18 IP), 3.34 FIP, six walks, 20 Ks, and a .282/.338/.479 line against in those starts.

Márquez and the Rockies fell behind early in the series opener, with César Hernández taking a leadoff walk, moving up on a single by Keibert Ruiz, and scoring one out later on a ground ball through the left side by Nelson Cruz, 1-0. Josh Bell stepped in next and lined a sinker off the center field wall for an RBI double. Yadiel Hernández doubled to right-center, on a slider outside, and drove in two more for a 4-0 lead.

The Rockies’ starter tossed two scoreless innings as his teammates rallied to make it a one-run game, but with Victor Robles on first after grounding into a force at second in the Nats’ half of the fourth, César Hernández stepped in and lined a 1-1 fastball off the right field wall to bring Robles around and make it a two-run game, 5-3 Nationals.

Following a 14-pitch, 1-2-3 sixth which left him at 104 pitches, Márquez had retired eight in a row…

Germán Márquez’s Line: 6.0 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 3 BB, 2 Ks, 104 P, 60 S, 10/3 GO/FO.

Bullpen Action:

Victor Arano came on for the Nationals with a runner on first and one out in the seventh and the Nats up 5-3 in the series opener with the Rockies, after Patrick Corbin gave up a one-out single by Elias Díaz. Connor Joe singled to left in the first at-bat for the reliever, but he got a 6-4-3, inning-ending DP out of Yonathan Daza to keep the two-run lead intact.

Ty Blach took over for the Rockies in the bottom of the seventh and gave up a leadoff single by César Hernández (2 for 3, 2B, BB) and a pair of one-out walks to Juan Soto (0 for 3, BB) and Nelson Cruz (1 for 3, BB), loading the bases in front of Josh Bell (1 for 3, 2B, R when he stepped to the plate), who hit a sac fly to center for a 6-3 lead.

Tanner Rainey got the eighth tonight, and retired the Rockies’ 3-4-5 hitters in order in a 15-pitch frame.

Dee Strange-Gordon tripled to center and scored on a bunt by Victor Robles in the next at-bat, safety squeeze, 7-3 Nationals in the eighth.

Steve Cishek got the top of the ninth and the veteran reliever worked around a two-out E:6 on Dee Strange-Gordon for a scoreless frame. Ballgame.

Nationals now 16-30