Rockies’ excellent road trip ends with shutout loss to Nationals

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The Rockies’ terrific road trip had a Clark Griswold ending.

Flummoxed by Washington journeyman right-hander Paolo Espino, the Rockies lost 3-0 Sunday afternoon at Nationals Park. The Rockies have been shut out 16 times this season, all of the whitewashings coming on the road.

Although the Rockies saw their five-game road winning streak screech to a halt, they still finished with a 7-2 record on their journey through Philadelphia, Atlanta and Washington, D.C.

“It’s really good for next season,” said starter Jon Gray, who was yanked after four innings on Sunday. “I mean, it does great for the here and now, but at the end of the year, to play like this, it’s just going to be huge momentum.”

Gray, who is scheduled to become a free agent at season’s end, sounded like someone who is planning to stay in Colorado. Gray and the Rockies have had preliminary talks about a new contract.

Gray said that he was impressed by the strides the bullpen and young hitters have made in the latter part of the season, and especially during the nine-game road trip. On the trip, Rockies starters posted a 3.86 ERA, with relievers having a 2.97 ERA.

The Rockies hit .242 as a team (their season average on the road is just .215) and smacked 15 home runs, four of them by Trevor Story.

Veteran right fielder Charlie Blackmon was heartened by the trip east.

“It’s good to see our team play well, to do it for a whole road trip, really,” he said. “And I think it does go to show a little bit how good the (National League) West is. That it’s a really tough division.”

Sunday, however, the Rockies flashed back to the first half of this season when victories, runs and clutch hits were scarce.

Espino, 34, facing Colorado for the first time, pitched 5 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing three hits, striking out seven and walking three.

“We had a couple of shots, but couldn’t deliver today, as we have on this road trip,” Rockies manager Bud Black said. “Their starter had an assortment of offspeed pitches and threw his high fastball at the right height of the zone. We just couldn’t solve their pitching.”

Colorado managed just five hits, was 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position, left eight men on base, and struck out 12 times.

Colorado had the bases loaded in the sixth inning but Ryan McMahon flew out to deep left field, ending the rally. With two outs in the eighth, Blackmon doubled and Story singled, but reliever Andres Machado struck out C.J. Cron to quelch the rally.

Gray gave the Rockies a decent start but Black made the decision to lift him in the fifth inning for pinch hitter Rio Ruiz. Black was trying to jumpstart the Rockies’ stalled offense, but with two on and two out, Ruiz grounded out to second.

Gray surrendered two runs on three hits, struck out five and walked two.

“I just feel like there wasn’t a good flow to the game,” the right-hander said. “There wasn’t a good tempo and I didn’t land my curveball for strikes early on.”

That Nats tagged Gray for a run in the first, combining a single and a stolen base by Alcides Escobar and an RBI single by Yadiel Hernandez.

Gray’s worst pitch of the game arrived with two outs in the third to the dangerous Juan Soto. Gray left an 0-1 slider sitting over the plate and Soto slaughtered it for a 454-foot homer to center. It was Soto’s 26th homer.

“I floated a pitch in there,” Gray said. “I mean, I could have hit that homer out. It wasn’t a good pitch at all.”

As for Black’s decision to pull him after just four innings, Gray said: “It stinks. But I get it, I totally understand. I had my chances early on, I could have easily stretched out to six innings. But we got the pitch count high (70 pitches) and I kind of put myself in that situation.”

On Deck

The Rockies are off on Monday

Trending: The Rockies open their final homestand of the season beginning Tuesday night against the Dodgers at Coors Field. They are 45-27 at home with nine games to play.

At issue: C.J. Cron’s late-season cool down continued Sunday. The first baseman went 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout. He finished the nine-game road trip 5-for-31 (1.61) with one homer, three RBIs and 12 strikeouts.

Pitching probables

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