Blackmon homers twice (Harper ejected in 10th, Nats fall 9-4 in 11)

A.J. Cole and Jorge De La Rosa shared the labor of a 33-minute first inning but did not allow a run on a sun-splashed Saturday afternoon matchup between the Nationals and the Rockies.

Cole didn't give up a hit until the top of the third. On a 3-2 pitch, Charlie Blackmon launched a solo shot, his 22nd homer of the season, over the right field wall and into the Nats bullpen. Colorado leads 1-0.

Trea Turner and Anthony Rendon have base hits for the Nats. In the first, Turner stole his 17th base of the season standing up, not drawing a throw from catcher Nick Hundley. But the Nats were unable to get him home as De La Rosa recorded three straight outs.

De La Rosa struck out the side in the third. He has recorded seven strikeouts in first three frames.

After three innings in D.C., the Rockies lead 1-0 over the Nationals.

Update: Best intentions backfired for the Nats in the fourth. Nolan Arenado singled and David Dahl doubled. With two men in scoring position and no one out, Cole struck out Gerardo Parra. Then, he induced a weak popup by Hundley to second base.

But then an intentional walk first pitch to Daniel Descalso got past Wilson Ramos to score a run. After then walking Descalso, De La Rosa singled to plate Dahl and the Rockies led 3-0.

In the bottom of the fourth, the Nationals got on the scoreboard. Daniel Murphy singled. Bryce Harper laced a double that glanced off the glove and off the wall in left field to score Murphy, cutting the Rockies' lead to 3-1.

Rendon singled to put runners on the corners. Ramos delivered a single to right to plate Harper, and the Rockies led 3-2. A Danny Espinosa grounder scored Rendon and the game is tied 3-3.

Update II: Cole finishes 5 2/3 innings, allowing three runs on four hits with three walks and four strikeouts. He had one wild pitch, one hit batter and allowed the Blackmon homer. Overall, Cole threw 112 pitches, 71 for strikes.

Through six innings in a slow paced game, it's 3-3.

Update III: Rockies forged ahead in the seventh thanks to a pair of singles from Blackmon and DJ LeMahieu. LeMahieu's bunt single helped Blackmon go all the way to third because of a bad throw by reliever Marc Rzepczynski. Blackmon scored on a 4-3 grounder by Carlos Gonzalez and the Rockies had the lead back 4-3.

Update IV: Ben Revere walked and stole second with one out in the bottom of the ninth against Adam Ottavino. Turner's blooper to center was caught on a great play by Blackmon. With two outs, Jayson Werth then dropped a single into left field that scored Revere to tie the game at 4-4. A wild pitch got Werth to third base, but Murphy grounded out to second to send the game into extra innings. The Werth run marked the first run allowed by Ottavino in 37 appearances. The Nats are 4-5 in extra-inning games this season, while the Rockies are 1-3.

Update V: Harper was ejected in the bottom of the 10th for arguing a called third strike by home plate umpire Mark Winters. It was his eighth career ejection, second this season. He slammed his helmet and bat down in disgust during the argument. Chris Heisey, the last position player available on the bench, went in to play right field in the 11th.

Blackmon hit his second homer of the game, a two-run shot, off Yusmeiro Petit to give the Rockies a 6-4 lead. Gonzalez added a two-run homer later in the inning and the Rockies led 8-4. It was the 200th home run of his career.

The Rockies end up scoring five runs on seven hits with one error and one wild pitch to blow open the game in the 11th with a 9-4 lead.

The Nationals managed two hits in the bottom of the 11th, but struck out three times to end the game.

The game spanned four hours and 49 minutes. The Rockies win 9-4 over the Nationals in 11 innings.