Giolito didn't see the improvement he wanted in tough loss

Right-hander Lucas Giolito was hoping to hit the ground running as he made his return to the big leagues after some solid performances at Triple-A Syracuse.

But the Rockies' Nolan Arenado and David Dahl had other ideas. Arenado smacked a two-run shot and Dahl followed with a solo homer, highlighting a three-run third inning as Colorado defeated the Nationals 5-3.

Giolito allowed four runs on six hits with two walks and two strikeouts, having to throw 100 pitches in five innings in his first major league loss.

Despite his recent uptick in the minors, Giolito was disappointed he wasn't able to carry that success into Nationals Park.

"Honestly, with the way I've been pitching at Triple-A recently, I wouldn't see this as an improvement," Giolito said. "I've been pitching a lot better. I figured some stuff out. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to execute on a few pitches today that kind of lost the game for us. The only thing I can do is continue to work and try get better about living down in the zone and getting ahead of guys, and then throwing all my pitches for strikes and putting guys away."

There weren't many opportunities for either team in this one as Rockies right-hander Chad Bettis kept the Nats at bay. He went seven innings and gave up just two runs on five hits for the victory. The Rockies held the Nationals to six hits overall.

Manager Dusty Baker said with limited chances to score, three runs in an inning was good enough for Colorado.

"Usually, it's that one bad inning that does you in," Baker said. "Most of the time, the other team scores more in one inning than you do in the rest of the game. Today, (Giolito) had Arenado 0-2 and then was trying to get a ball in a place that he didn't get it in, (and) it was right down the middle. Then the next batter, Dahl, came up and deposited it in the left-center field (seats). That was that one bad inning. He threw the ball better than he had been previous times but his pitch count got high in a hurry. So we had to go get him."

Giolito had a chance to study his duel with Arenado after the outing and realized the mistake he made in location with his fastball. Then one bad pitch turned into two as the Rockies hit back-to-back homers.

"The first one, I was ahead of him there and I looked at it on video. I missed the spot pretty bad with the fastball," Giolito said. "It was supposed to go up and in and it missed right over the plate. It happens with these hitters. I just got to be better about getting ahead of guys and finishing guys off with the pitch I want to throw and make sure I hit my spots."

Catcher Wilson Ramos, who hit his 20th homer of the season in the seventh, agreed with Giolito that most of the outing was solid, but the third inning mistakes turned costly against a Rockies lineup that has multiple ways to beat you with Arenado, Charlie Blackmon, DJ LeMahieu and Carlos Gonzalez. This time, it was Arenado and Dahl doing the damage.

"(Giolito) was working very well throughout the game, keeping the ball down," Ramos said through club translator Octavio Martinez. "Things didn't work out the way we wanted them to. He was pitching against a very good Colorado offense. We can make mistakes to over the plate and they hurt you if that's the case, which they did. But overall, he did a good job."

The Nationals also got solo homers from Trea Turner and Bryce Harper, but it wasn't enough against the Rockies.

Colorado benefited from a two-base wild pitch that scored a key insurance run off of Koda Glover in the eighth.

On the play, home plate umpire Mike Muchlinski was injured when the pitch from Glover struck him, which distracted Ramos and Glover. Ramos lost track of the ball and Daniel Descalso was able to score all the way from second base to make it 5-2.

Glover said the wild pitch was his mistake on which pitch Ramos expected.

"Me and Ramos got crossed up," Glover said. "I thought he put down a different pitch. It's on me, I squared the umpire up. Honestly, I don't know how that run's able to score. At most, I thought he'd be told to got to third. But that's just baseball."

"That last one really hurt because that would've been a one-run game, a different story," Baker said. "The ball hit the umpire. Willie was concerned about the umpire. The batter kept running. I went out up to find out was it a dead ball. I knew it wasn't, but he just said that no. I guess in essence you got to go get the ball then come back and see how he is. I've never seen that play before."

The Nationals confirmed after the game that Muchlinski was not injured.