Rockies Roll the Nationals 3-1

After yesterday’s thirteen-run outburst, things got back to normal in tonight’s game against the Colorado Rockies, as the Washington Nationals could only muster a single run on four hits, while striking out ten times.

Colorado snapped their seven-game losing streak with tonight’s victory.

The Rockies started the scoring in the top of the 4th as Hunter Goodman led off with a 432 ft. home run, his 35th, to center field. Goodman returned to the Rockies’ lineup tonight after spending the last two weeks on the injured list with a left shoulder strain. TJ Rumfield then drew a walk but was forced out at 2nd on Willi Castro’s grounder. Connor Norby then doubled to center field, scoring Castro. 2-0 Colorado.

The Nationals got their first and only run in the bottom of the 4th as Daylen Lile hit his 17th homer to right field. 2-1 Rockies.

Colorado scored their third run in the top of the 5th. Jordan Beck singled to center. One out later, Jake McCarthy also singled, sending Beck to 2nd base. A wild pitch on Cole Carrigg’s strike out sent Beck all the way home due to an obstruction call on 3rd baseman Brady House. 3-1 Rockies.

And that was the final score…Rockies 3 Nationals 1.

Mason Adams made his first major league start for the Rockies tonight, pitching 4 innings, giving up 1 run on 3 hits while striking out 5 Nationals.

Adams was acquired from the White Sox earlier this month and sent down to Triple-A Albuquerque. He was called up today after starting pitcher Kyle Freeland was placed on the injured list. Adams had pitched 3 games for the Isotopes and was sporting an impressive 2.08 ERA at the time of his promotion. He underwent Tommy John surgery in March of 2025. He looked pretty good tonight.

Five Rockies’relievers pitched an inning apiece to close out the game. The Nationals were held scoreless over those five innings while managing only two hits.

Andrew Alvarez started for the Nationals, giving up 3 runs on 5 hits while striking out 6 Rockies.

The Nationals record fell back to ten games under .500 at 62 wins and 72 losses.

Game three of the four-game series takes place tomorrow at 6:45 ET.

Dave’s Dime…Minor League Promos

I’m sure we talked a few weeks ago about the problems minor league baseball has been facing since the 2021 reorganization.

That reorganization drastically reduced the number of minor league teams to just 120 and spread them over four primary levels. In other words, each major league team now has a Triple-A, Double-A, Single-A, and Low-A minor league team; four per franchise.

The Washington Nationals quartet of minor league teams are: the Triple-A Rochester Red Wings, located in Rochester, New York; the Double-A Harrisburg Senators, playing in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; the Single-A Wilmington Blue Rocks, situated in Wilmington, Delaware; and the Low-A Fredericksburg Nationals, setting up shop in Fredericksburg, Virginia.

Now this restructuring only cut the number of minor league teams from 160 to 120. But there are still over one hundred minor league teams playing in independent professional baseball leagues that are not affiliated with any major league franchise.

So how do all these minor league teams, spread throughout the country, draw baseball fans to their stadiums? There’s always going to be those lifelong fanatics who will go almost anywhere just to watch a game. But with so many other forms of entertainment available to us these days, there’s a great deal of competition. Like…should we go to a movie? Maybe dancing at a nightclub? Out to dinner, sushi sound good? A death metal concert? Sitting on the sofa eating Cheetos and scrolling YouTube?

I found an article on MLB.com that listed the greatest Minor League promos happening this baseball season in a stadium near you…Here’s just a few…

1. The Palm Beach Cardinals (Single-A-St. Louis) have an alternate identity. Sometimes they take the field as the Palm Beach Frozen Iguanas. They’ll be donning this alternate identity 12 times during the 2026 season. This is to honor the unusual fact that these large lizards become almost comatose when the temperature drops below 50 degrees Fahrenheit and then they fall out of trees. Heads up!

2. The Visalia Rawhide (Single-A-AZ) have what’s called their Belle of the Ballpark beauty pageant once a year. All contestants are at least 65 years old. They compete in categories like the runway walk and who can tell the best “Yo Mama” joke. Here’s my personal favorite… “Yo mama so old, she walked out of a museum and the alarm went off.”

3. The Eugene Emeralds (Single-A-SF) also boast an alternate identity, the Eugene Exploding Whales, as a tribute to an infamous day back in 1970 when an Oregon coastal town attempted to remove the body of a beached sperm whale. Some genius from the Oregon Department of Transportation, after consulting with the U.S Navy, decided to load the deceased whale up with dynamite. Their reasoning was that the exploded whale pieces would be food for the local shorebirds. On their first few attempts, an insufficient amount of explosives were used. Someone got tired of the misfires and filled the poor whale up with a half-ton of dynamite. The resulting blast sent chunks of blubber into outer space.

4. The St. Paul Saints (Triple-A-MN) have their own ball pig. Supposedly, the first person of European descent to live in the area around the Twin Cities was a trapper named Pig’s Eye. So that’s why the Saints have a pig for a mascot. Makes perfect sense to me. The team started this season with a pig named ChatBLT. They’ll send this porker to market during the mid-season break and introduce a new pig to be named by the fans. I’m quite upset with myself for missing that!

5. The Wilmington Blue Rocks (Single-A-KC) have a mascot legend named Mr. Celery. Every time the Blue Rocks score a run, Mr. Celery emerges from his secret hole in the ground and becomes a dancing machine as the PA system blasts Blur’s “Song #2.” On July 18th of this year, the Blue Rocks paid tribute to this iconic figure with a ballpark-wide “Celerybration.” Celery and peanut butter for all! I’m suddenly hungry.

So, there you go. Just a few of the imaginative ideas that these minor league teams dream up just to keep the game of baseball alive!

I love it!