Washington Nationals 10-2 over Colorado Rockies: Erick Fedde goes seven strong in Coors Field...

Erick Fedde vs the Rockies:

“He’s been inconsistent, but he’s flashed some really good signs of being a good starting pitcher for us,” GM Mike Rizzo said in discussing the results for 2014 Nationals’ 1st Round pick Erick Fedde the morning before the 29-year-old right-hander gave up just three hits, three walks, and two earned runs in 4 ²⁄₃ IP against Miami at home in Washington, D.C.

Fedde finished his fourth start of the 2022 campaign with a 6.00 ERA, a 4.47 FIP, eight walks, and 19 strikeouts in 18 IP, over which opposing hitters had put up a .282/.346/.451 line against him.

Fedde’s manager, Davey Martinez, talked after that 91-pitch outing against the Marlins about the need for the starter to put hitters away when he gets ahead, to not overthrow when he is ahead in his matchups, and to do what he can to keep the pitch count under control so he can begin going deeper in his starts.

“Hopefully he learned today by some of the little things, and he comes out [in five days] and he gives us six strong innings with 90 pitches or so,” Martinez said.

Start No. 5 for Fedde began with two scoreless on 33 pitches, but he came out in the third with a 3-0 lead and gave up a leadoff walk to Connor Joe and a single to right off of Charlie Blackmon’s bat, which set Randal Grichuk up with an RBI opportunity he cashed in with the hard-hit ball he sent to third which Maikel Franco stabbed in time for a force at second as a run scored, 3-1, no double play.

Fedde was up to 8-straight Rockies set down, with a 7-1 lead, after he’d retired the side in order in a nine-pitch, 1-2-3 fifth which left him at 76 total, but a leadoff single by C.J. Cron ended that streak in the first at-bat of the home sixth, before a backwards K and a double play got the Nationals’ starter through a 10-pitch frame which left him at 86 total.

A 16-pitch seventh, in which he stranded a one-out double at third, left Fedde at 102 total on the night in seven strong...

Erick Fedde’s Line: 7.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 Ks, 102 P, 66 S, 9/4 GO/FO.

HAIR-mahn MAR-kehz:

Rockies’ righty Gérman Márquez took the mound tonight in Coors Field coming off of back-to-back outings against the Philadelphia Phillies in which he allowed 11 runs (8 ER) on 15 hits in 9 ²⁄₃ IP, for a 7.45 ERA in those starts, in which opposing hitters had a .333/.375/.600 line against him.

In the start before that, his second this season, Márquez gave up four runs on 10 hits in 4 ¹⁄₃ innings against the Chicago Cubs, after he gave up one run on three hits over seven innings against the LA Dodgers in his 2022 debut.

Márquez tossed two scoreless on 26 pitches to start tonight, working around a leadoff walk in the Nationals’ first and getting a double play after a leadoff single in the top of the second, and swinging K after a two-out walk, but a leadoff single to center (by Alcides Escobar) and hit-by-pitch (on César Hernández’s leg) in the first two at-bats of the Nats’ third came around two score on a three-run blast to left field by Josh Bell, who hit an 96 MPH 0-1 fastball outside out the other way for his 3rd of the season and a 3-0 lead.

Maikel Franco lined an 0-1 slider to center, and Keibert Ruiz lined a 1-0 fastball to the gap in right-center to start the top of the fourth, and, a half-inning after the Rox got on the board, the Nationals responded when Franco scored on a sac fly by Victor Robles, 4-1. Ruiz took third on a broken-bat base hit by Alcides Escobar, after hustling around for a double on his own line drive, but César Hernández sent a ground ball to second to start an inning-ending 4-6-3 DP.

Juan Soto homered on a first-pitch changeup to lead off the fifth inning, and two outs later, Yadiel Hernández (single) and Maikel Franco (double) connected for back-to-back, 2-out hits off the Rockies’ starter, before Keibert Ruiz connected for a third, a two-run line drive out to center, 7-1.

Gérman Márquez’s Line: 5.0 IP, 10 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 2 BB, 5 Ks, 2 HRs, 77 P, 53 S, 6/1 GO/FO.

Oppo Soto:

Juan Soto hit 1-0 slider outside to the wall in left field in Coors Field, where the Rockies’ left fielder, Sam Hilliard, made a leaping catch with a runner on in the top of the first, and in his second trip to the plate against righty Gérman Márquez, Soto K’d swinging at a 3-2 slider, but the third time up, Márquez started him with a first-pitch changeup which Soto powered out to left for an opposite field home run and a 5-1 Nationals’ lead. Soto’s 5th of 2022.

Bullpen Action:

Ty Blach, a Rockies’ lefty, was the first pitcher out of the pen in the series opener, and he got an inning-ending double play out of Juan Soto after giving up a 1-out single by César Hernández.

In his second inning of work, the southpaw gave up back-to-back singles by Josh Bell and Lane Thomas, both of whom scored on a double to center by Yadiel Hernández, 9-1.

Blach got another inning of work in the eighth, retiring the side in order.

Erasmo Ramírez gave up a two-out solo home run to left by C.J. Cron in the bottom of the eighth inning, 9-2 Nationals.

Josh Bell singled to start the ninth, with righty Justin Lawrence on the mound for the Rox, took second on a two-out walk by Maikel Franco, and scored on an RBI single by Keibert Ruiz, 10-2.

Nationals now 9-16