Corbin, bullpen find a way to complete twinbill sweep over Rockies

Nationals left-hander Patrick Corbin provided another sterling example of how good a pitcher he can be Wednesday night, battling Colorado starter Kyle Freeland for six innings and hanging on for a 2-0 win and doubleheader sweep over the Rockies.

Despite having to throw 27 pitches in the first inning, Corbin got out of a jam to begin the game.

Charlie Blackmon singled to leadoff the game, followed by a Trevor Story walk. But Corbin managed to get Nolan Arenado to ground into a 5-4-3 double play. The left-hander walked David Dahl to put runners on the corners with two outs, but Ian Desmond struck out to end the opportunity.

"First inning, didn't really feel like myself, just missing off the plate a little bit," Corbin said. "Got my pitch count up there. It was good to get out of that first inning with no damage done and I felt good after that."

Freeland also lasted six innings, giving up only one run - unearned - in the fourth inning that proved to be the difference. Brian Dozier doubled with two away and Victor Robles' well-hit grounder got away from second baseman Garrett Hampson. The fielding error allowed Dozier to score and the Nats led 1-0.

Corbin (8-5) settled down after coughing up three walks in a five-batter span in the first and second frames. But after that, the Rockies only mustered two more base hits against the left-hander.

"That's a really good one through four, one through five in that lineup, so we know they're going to put up good at-bats," said catcher Yan Gomes. "We talked a little bit about like him tinkering with the slider a little bit. He thought he was lagging in behind.

"It's one of those things with guys like him, (Stephen) Strasburg, (Max) Scherzer, (Aníbal) Sánchez, that's why they're good, man, because they know how to make adjustments during the game. And they know how to manipulate some balls to get them through a game."

Gomes delivered a critical insurance run in the seventh, smacking a solo shot off Rockies reliever Jake McGee to make 2-0 Nats. Gomes now has four hits in his last two starts, the solo shot his fourth of the season, a swing that reminded him of when he was on in his seasons with the Indians.

"If anything it was more of like a two-hand finish," Gomes said. "I've done it before. Me and (hitting coach) Kevin Long and (assistant hitting coach) Joe Dillon talked about it. Just kind of like start watching a little bit more video of how I used to do it and I think we started pinpointing a couple of things with maybe finish with two hands a little bit more."

The game came down to the bullpen again. In Game 1 of the twinbill, the Nats edged the Rockies 3-2, thanks in part to five innings of work from Matt Grace, Wander Suero, Fernando Rodney and Sean Doolittle.

In Game 2, the bullpen responded again.

Tanner Rainey and Tony Sipp got them through the seventh inning unscathed. Then Rodney and Doolittle were summoned for the second time in the same day and kept the Rockies off the scoreboard again. Rodney retired the side in order in the eighth and Doolittle finished the game with a shutout ninth frame.

Nationals manager Davey Martinez said he spoke to both pitchers before the nightcap and they signed off on their availability if necessary.

"It was awesome," said Martinez. "They had the conversation. They said they're both feeling really good. Came out and got big outs for us in the eighth and ninth. The bullpen has been great today, all day. Kudos to them. They had some big outs to get. Sipp came in and got a huge out and then Rodney and Doo come in and close it down."

Doolittle recorded his 22nd and 23rd saves on the season in the same day, something he said he has never done in his career.

"I had a decent amount of rest coming into today," Doolittle said. "I was pretty efficient with the outing during the first game. It worked out that I was able the way the game went I didn't throw that much in the bullpen before coming into the game. I think I threw (14) pitches? It felt pretty low stress. It was coming out pretty clean. Decided to give it a shot."

The Nationals set a franchise record with the doubleheader sweep. The two wins on the same day marked the fourth consecutive time the Nats have swept a doubleheader since 2018. The last team to sweep four straight doubleheaders was the Indians between 2003 and 2006.

The club has now won 36 of their last 51 games and are within four games of the Braves for the top spot in the National League East. The four game deficit is the closest the Nats have been to first place since the morning of May 5.

What changed from a team that was 19-31 after 50 games?

"Nobody felt bad for us," Gomes said. "Whether we were going through injuries, things weren't going our way, nobody felt bad for us. If anything, people were more excited that the favored team in our league was losing. It was just a matter of us coming together as a team and really start playing for each other. Selfless play goes a long way. I'll keep repeating this, at the end of the game, if we are shaking hands, we've all done our jobs."