Nats fall to Rockies in rain-delayed marathon road finale (updated)

They played two-plus innings in a little more than an hour before the heavy rain arrived in Colorado, then waited through a two-hour delay before taking the field again. They then played 6 1/2 more innings across nearly three more hours, each team using up most of its expanded bullpen, all in a vain attempt simply to complete this 159th game of a season that long ago was lost by both participants.

And when it finally ended, when the Nationals lost 10-5 some 5 hours and 57 minutes after Rockies starter Peter Lambert threw the afternoon's first pitch, there wasn't much left for anyone to say except this: Only three more games to go.

"Just a long day," manager Davey Martinez sighed in his postgame Zoom session with reporters.

The Nationals' 94th loss of the season came in an excruciatingly long ballgame at Coors Field that was interrupted by rain in the top of the third, forcing both teams' starters to be pulled early and forcing both teams' bullpens to put in even more overtime during the final week of a long season.

The actual game itself was a 3-hour, 57-minute marathon, and that doesn't even count the two-hour rain delay, which at the time looked like it might be significant enough to prevent the game from being restarted. If that happened, it would've meant the Nationals wouldn't finish the season with 162 games played, and it would've wiped out any stats accrued to that point (including a Juan Soto single and RBI).

But the storm did move out, the grounds crew was able to prepare the field and the game resumed with the bases loaded, one out in the top of the third and Andrew Stevenson (pinch-hitting for Paolo Espino) at the plate with the count already 2-2.

Stevenson would strike out, but Lane Thomas picked him up with a two-run single, giving the Nats a 5-4 lead and reason to feel optimistic about how the rest of the proceedings might play out. That, however, would prove to be the high point of the game for them.

"We came back, and then we started walking guys right away," Martinez said. "That led to some big innings."

The Nationals bullpen, tasked with churning out seven innings after Espino gave up four runs in his two frames prior to the rain delay, slogged its way through the remainder of the game, and it wasn't a pretty sight.

Mason Thompson faced three batters and failed to retire any of them. Austin Voth allowed two of the runners he inherited to score, giving the Rockies the lead back. Andres Machado managed to post a zero in the fourth inning but retired only two of the four batters he faced. Alberto Baldonado retired only one of the three he faced in the fifth, two runners ultimately scoring on back-to-back hits off Jhon Romero.

You get the idea. Seven Nats relievers appeared in all, none of them able to pitch a 1-2-3 inning and move this game closer to the finish line.

"When you start walking (batters), it just makes for a long inning," Martinez said. "And you've got to get them out and get somebody else in there."

The Rockies bullpen, meanwhile, shut down the Nationals lineup after Lambert was charged with five early runs in the first three innings.

The early offense included Soto's lone hit of the game, though he was awarded that infield single only after the Nats challenged first base umpire Hunter Wendelstedt's initial call that he was out on a slow roller to first. Replays showed Soto's foot touching the bag ahead of Lambert, who was covering on the play. Either way, Thomas would've scored from third and Soto would've been credited with his 94th RBI.

Soto would later crash into the right field wall making a catch and bang up his right knee, but he stayed in the game and continued his pursuit of the National League batting title. (He trailed ex-teammate Trea Turner .325 to .318 heading into the Dodgers' late-night game against the Padres.)

"It's been a long year (for Soto)," Martinez said. "He plays every day. But the kid loves to play. He got another walk in his last at-bat. I think right now he's just pulling off a little bit. He gets a day off tomorrow, and we'll see how he does this weekend."

Yadiel Hernandez drove in another run on a grounder to second. Luis García's third-inning double brought Josh Bell home from third, and Thomas' two-run single capped the third-inning rally before the bats went silent again.

This was set to be Espino's final outing of the season, but perhaps the circumstances could now set him up to return to pitch once more in some capacity. The Nationals have not named a starter for Sunday's season finale, saying only that Josh Rogers will pitch Friday and Josiah Gray on Saturday. Patrick Corbin, who gave up two runs in six innings Tuesday night, will not make another start, Martinez revealed this morning. Erick Fedde, who would normally have been in line to start before Rogers and Gray, wound up pitching the eighth inning tonight as the club limits his usage down the stretch after a career-high 132 1/3 innings pitched this season.

That could leave the Nats without a true starter for Game 162, a game that could be critical to the Red Sox's chances of reaching the postseason. Given that Espino threw only 34 pitches in two innings today, it's possible he could be brought back on short rest, either to start or throw a few more innings in relief.

"I feel good," the right-hander said. "I know my body is definitely going to recover for Sunday. If they want me to start, and that's a possibility, I'll be ready for it. I'm going to prepare myself as if I'm going to go either to the 'pen or to start."