Washington @ Colorado preview
Coors Field
Last Meeting ( May 13, 2010 ) Washington 14, Colorado 6
The rain continued on Friday, postponing one of the week's top pitching matchups to Saturday's doubleheader between the Washington Nationals and Colorado Rockies.
Washington provided the thunder Thursday night just before a rainstorm cut short its four-game series opener with Colorado at soggy Coors Field.
The Rockies must have been thankful for the rain after the Nationals clubbed a season-high 16 hits and scored seven runs in the eighth inning of a 14-6 victory.
The victory was the first at Coors Field for the Nationals since 2008. Ryan Zimmerman crushed two homers off previously unscored upon Jhoulys Chacin and drove in a career-high six runs.
Saturday afternoon's game will be a rematch between Washington’s Livan Hernandez (4-1, 1.04 ERA) and Colorado’s Ubaldo Jimenez (6-1, 0.93 ERA) - and they have only gotten better since their April 22 meeting. The two, who have the lowest ERAs in the majors, were also briefly teammates for the Rockies in 2008.
In their April 22 meeting in Washington, Hernandez allowed two runs and four hits in eight innings but ended up with a hard-luck loss. Jimenez pitched 7 1/3 shutout innings and allowed five hits to pick up the victory.
The Nationals might have wanted to save a few of those runs for Saturday against Jimenez (6-1, 0.93).
The hard-throwing native of the Dominican Republic already has a no-hitter this season and was unbeaten until his last start against the Los Angeles Dodgers. He allowed two hits in seven innings, but a comebacker by Jamey Carroll bounced off Jimenez’s glove and drove in the only run he allowed in a 2-0 loss.
Jimenez, who has yet to allow a home run this season, is 3-1 with a 3.06 ERA against Nationals.
Hernandez has been among the most impressive players in the majors this season after a forgettable 2009 with the Nationals when he was just 2-4 with a 5.36 ERA. He got a minor-league contract in February and has been strong in every game so far. In fact he has never started this well in his 15-year career. He is 7-10 lifetime against the Rockies with a 4.25 ERA.
Zimmerman did not play April 22 against Jimenez. He is an impressive 8-for-13 in his last three games against the Rockies.