Rockies’ June swoon in full bloom with 11-5 loss to Nationals

With apologies to George Gershwin …

“Summertime, and the runs come easy. The baseball’s jumpin’ and ERAs are high.”

And so it goes for the Rockies at Coors Field, where they lost again Friday night.

The Nationals mashed 19 hits, including two home runs, en route to an 11-5 victory in front of an announced crowd of 31,935. Colorado countered with 11 hits, including home runs by Ezequiel Tovar, Nolan Jones and Hunter Goodman. But it wasn’t nearly enough.

The Rockies, on pace to lose 107 games, are a disappointing 2-6 on the current 10-game homestand, and their June swoon is in full bloom. After a passable 14-13 record in May, Colorado has a 5-15 record this month.

Starter Dakota Hudson’s night went south in a hurry.

Manager Bud Black, asked if Jones’ performance was the result of a hot summer  night at Coors or poor performance, said it was the latter.

“It was more of a product of missed location and not the hot summer night here in Denver like we have seen,” Black said. “There were multiple misses up and (pitching to) the wrong side of the plate.”

The Rockies’ right-hander seemed to have slayed his Coors Field demons or, at the very least, tamed them temporarily. But the Nationals hammered Hudson for a career-high eight runs on a career-high 11 hits in three-plus innings. He is the first pitcher in franchise history to suffer a losing decision in 10 of his first 15 starts.

The avalanche began with the Nationals’ five-run third, including a three-run homer by Luis Garcia.

“The back-breaker for him was the three-run homer,” Black said. “He tried to throw a breaking ball backdoor to the lefty and got it down right into the wheelhouse, probably the only place where that kid has a little bit of power.”

Hudson agreed with Black’s critique.

“I just had too many balls over the middle,” he said. “I tried to figure out what I had working. Whenever I got weak contact, it was through the hole, and whenever I left it over the middle, they got barrels to it.”

The Nats’ four-run fourth began with Drew Millas’ leadoff homer off Hudson. He was relieved by Geoff Hartlieb, who immediately gave up a two-run double to Lane Thomas.

The Rockies gave their fans a few moments of good cheer.

Tovar, continuing his bid for the All-Star Game, homered off rookie lefty DJ Herz in the third to get Colorado on the board. It was Tovar’s 12th homer of the season, second on the team to Ryan McMahon’s 13. Tovar finished the game 3-for-5 to raise his average to .285.

Colorado’s three-run fourth began with Nolan Jones’ second homer, a solo shot off Herz. It was a good sign for Jones, who recently came off the injured list after missing 41 games because of lower back and left knee injuries.

“I missed a lot of time, and since I’ve come back, I’ve hit a lot of singles,” said Jones, who launched his first homer since April 12 at Toronto. “So it felt good to catch one out front. It obviously didn’t change the outcome of the game, but for me, it felt really good.”

After a Sean Bouchard single, Hunter Goodman ripped a two-run homer off Herz, Goodman’s sixth homer of the season and his fourth homer in his last six games. Of Goodman’s 17 hits this season, 11 have gone for extra bases.