Nats' bats quiet in 3-2 loss

The Nationals have nothing working on offense tonight. Rockies starter Yohan Flande has limited the Nats to just three baserunners through the first five innings.

Bryce Harper's double in the first is the Nats' lone hit of the evening. Yunel Escobar followed with a groundout to end the frame and strand Harper.

Harper and Ryan Zimmerman have reached on walks tonight.

Max Scherzer held the Rockies scoreless through four innings before running into trouble in the fifth. Up 0-2 on Flande, Scherzer left a fastball over the plate and Flande served it into left field for a single. Charlie Blackmon followed with a base knock to right.

Jose Reyes then doubled down the right field line scoring Flande for the game's first run. After intentionally walking Carlos Gonzalez to load the bases, Scherzer whiffed Nolan Arenado and Ben Paulsen to end the inning and prevent further damage.

Scherzer has allowed one run on five hits three walks and seven strikeouts through five innings.

Update: Anthony Rendon picked up the Nats second hit with a two-out single to right in the sixth. But Harper's lazy pop fly to Reyes ended the inning.

Matt McBride started the bottom of the frame with a line drive single to center. McBride advanced to third on a groundout from Daniel Descalso and a flyout by Dustin Garneau. That allowed McBride to score when Flande legged out a slow grounder to Ian Desmond.

The Nationals finally broke through in the seventh. Zimmerman drew a two-out walk and then Michael A. Taylor smashed Flande's first-pitch slider over the center field wall for a game-tying two-run homer.

Update II: Scherzer exited the game after Reyes began the seventh with a base hit to center. Left-hander Felipe Rivero entered and promptly gave up a single to left by Gonzalez.

Nationals manager Matt Williams then summoned right-hander Blake Treinen to face Arenado. Treinen fanned Arenado, but Paulsen followed with a single to center scoring Reyes to give the Rockies the lead.

Scherzer allowed three runs on eight hits with three walks (one intentional) and seven strikeouts over six innings. He threw 103 pitches.

Update III: Rockies closer John Axford finished off the Nats in the ninth, striking out Taylor with two on to end the game.

The Rockies beat the Nationals 3-2.