Dusty Baker on Washington Nationals’ 15-12 win in Colorado: “That’s Coors Field at its finest right there.”

Twenty-seven runs, twenty-nine hits, eight doubles, five home runs and two triples, a Trea Turner cycle, (the first of his career), a five-RBI game for Daniel Murphy (which went largely unnoticed), a 1 hour, 6 minute rain delay; 3 hour, 26 minute game, and a run scored by one team or the other in every single one of the nine innings [ed. note - “And thankfully, no extras.”] that was played in rainy 40° weather in what ended up being a 15-12 Washington Nationals’ win over the Colorado Rockies last night.

Yessir, that’s baseball in the Mile-High City... apparently.

“That’s Coors Field at its finest right there,” Dusty Baker said after his team evened things up with the Rockies in the second game of four for the Nationals in Denver.

“No lead is safe. No deficit is secure. You just got to keep playing and keep playing and keep scoring.”

“Boy, these games will wear you out,” Baker added.

“Boy, that was uh... I haven’t played one like that in a long time. Probably since I was here last. I played a lot of games here and you’re always nervous. You don’t want to take anybody out, you want to give guys rest, but you don’t know.

“Just a couple of walks, a couple of hits, homers, and they’re back in the game, which they were, so that’s how I summarize that one.”

Baker was impressed with Turner’s cycle and seven RBIs.

“That stands out,” he said. “That’s - wooo. There aren’t many guys that can say they drove in seven runs in a game.”

Daniel Murphy’s five-RBI game?

“He got some big two-out hits,” Baker said.

“That’s big. I didn’t know how many RBIs anybody had to tell you the truth.

“I was just looking at that score up there and I’m glad we tacked on the runs we did, because I’m telling you, this place is known for this.”

Coors Field is also know for wearing out pitchers.

Joe Ross gave up seven hits, two walks and five earned runs in his second start of the season, then Baker had to use five relievers, three of whom surrendered runs, with Joe Blanton (4 H, 4 ER) getting the worst of it, to close out the second game of the four-game set with the Rockies.

So how is the bullpen holding up after the first two games of the series? Do they need to call on reinforcements?

“I don’t know,” Baker said. “Everybody is kind of beat up at the end of this trip. It was cold out there tonight. It was brutally cold, but the bats are hot.”

“This place, it seems like when you walk them something happens, all the time.

“Their rally started also with a walk, so you’ve got to make them put it in play, but if you throw it down the heart of the plate, it could leave the ballpark. This is a tough place to pitch.”

We talked about Coors Field, Trea Turner’s cycle and more on Nats Nightly after last night’s game: