Nationals' potent offense ready to back Miles Mikolas vs. Rockies

Miles Mikolas and the rest of the Washington Nationals pitching staff have benefited this season from the run-scoring prowess displayed by their team.

After all, how many starters can give up seven runs in an outing and still earn the victory?

Mikolas (3-7, 5.53 ERA) did on July 6 in Houston, when he got the credit for the 12-11 win against the Astros despite giving up seven earned runs in six innings. And he'll be counting on the dynamic Washington offense again Tuesday night when he faces the Colorado Rockies in the second game of a three-game series in Denver.

The Nationals took the opener, 7-3, on Monday night.

The 12 runs in that Mikolas start against the Astros weren't an anomaly for Washington. The Nationals scored 23 runs in their first game out of the All-Star break and are averaging 11.7 runs in their three victories since play resumed.

Washington leads the majors with 147 home runs after hitting three more on Monday to have the highest-scoring offense in baseball with 552 runs.

"They do such a good job of having a plan when they go up to bat every time, and they execute that plan," manager Blake Butera said. "And then, pretty good idea of how each pitcher's going to attack them and where they need to look and what they need to look for to have success, and they stick to that."

Mikolas could use the support in his 10th career game against the Rockies. In the first nine -- seven starts -- he is 1-1 with a 7.91 ERA.

Colorado right-hander Michael Lorenzen (3-9, 6.22) hopes the Rockies' bats will be awake in his team-leading 21st start of the season. Lorenzen struggled early in the season but has been steady in his last seven starts, going 1-1 with a 3.24 ERA, and he has allowed just one home run in his past four outings.

He is making his 17th appearance -- sixth start -- against the Nationals in his career. His career record against Washington is 1-2 with a 5.02 ERA.

Lorenzen could be showing his stuff for a prospective Colorado trade partner. The Rockies, who have the worst record in the majors (40-62) entering play on Tuesday, have started dealing well ahead of the Aug. 3 deadline, sending hard-throwing right-hander Seth Halvorsen to the Los Angeles Dodgers for a pair of minor league players.

There are a few Colorado players more than likely to stay, including first baseman TJ Rumfield, who has been one of the best rookies in the NL this season. He is batting .296 with 13 home runs and 51 RBIs and had a career-high four hits in Saturday's win over Cincinnati.

His batting average leads all rookies on the season, and he is in the NL Rookie of the Year conversation.

"TJ's making a very strong case for that (award), but he's got another 60 games to go," Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer said. "So no let up."

--Field Level Media