LeMahieu reaches in 9th straight plate appearance; Rox win

DENVER (AP) DJ LeMahieu has hit well enough of late to get right on Daniel Murphy's tail in the race for the National League batting title.

LeMahieu had three hits and reached base for the ninth straight plate appearance, Colorado's bullpen threw six scoreless innings and the Rockies beat the Washington Nationals 6-2 on Tuesday night following a lengthy weather delay.

LeMahieu singled in the first inning, hit a two-run home run in the third and tripled and scored the go-ahead run in the fifth off Yusmeiro Petit (3-3). Blake Treinen walked the Rockies' disciplined hitter to load the bases during Colorado's three-run seventh.

''I know he's trying to get me to roll into a double play right there,'' said LeMahieu, who also went 4 for 4 on Monday and walked in his final plate appearance Sunday. ''I just didn't want to expand my zone in that situation.''

LeMahieu's batting average is up 14 points over his past four games to .342, just six points behind Washington's Murphy for the NL Lead after Murphy had two hits Tuesday.

Rain and lightning swept over Coors Field at the start of the fourth, and the game didn't resume until 9:52 p.m. after a delay of 2 hours, 5 minutes.

Colorado won for the second time in 10 games. Nolan Arenado and David Dahl each had two RBIs, and Chris Rusin (3-4) threw three innings in relief of starter Chad Bettis.

''We played well,'' Rockies manager Walt Weiss said. ''I feel like we've been playing well, but been coming up on the short end.''

Washington had its three-game winning streak snapped and lost for just the second time in six games.

Jayson Werth singled in the third to extend his on-base streak to a career-best 44 games. That's the longest in the majors this season and the longest in Nationals history.

Gio Gonzalez allowed two runs in three innings and didn't return after the delay.

''Gio was throwing the ball well,'' Murphy said. ''But they had to go to the bullpen (too), and we had ample opportunities to try to strike against their bullpen. Unfortunately, offensively we weren't able to do so tonight.''

Before the delay, LeMahieu tied the game with his ninth homer of the year. After it, Arenado added an RBI groundout in the fifth and a sac fly in the seventh. Dahl drove in two more runs with a pinch-hit double in seventh.

Washington had three hits and scored twice in the third. Bryce Harper drove in a run on a groundout and Wilson Ramos added an RBI single off the right-field wall.

MORE STREAKING

Dahl's pinch-hit double gave the rookie a hit in 21 of his first 22 games in the majors.

''David showed up here a very confident player, very composed,'' Weiss said. ''He always looks like he's in control of his game, control of his at-bats.''

Charlie Blackmon, meanwhile, extended his hitting streak to 11 games.

TRAINER'S ROOM

Washington: RHP Joe Ross (shoulder) threw a bullpen session on Tuesday. ... 1B Ryan Zimmerman (wrist) and C Jose Lobaton (elbow) began rehab assignments Monday and could return as soon as this week.

Colorado: The Rockies placed RHP Tyler Chatwood (mid-back strain) on the 15-days disabled list and recalled RHP Christian Bergman from Triple-A Albuquerque. ... SS Trevor Story (thumb), who is expected to miss the remainder of the season after having surgery, is expected to get his stitches removed Friday.

UP NEXT

Nationals: RHP Stephen Strasburg (15-3, 3.07 ERA) lost his last two outings, allowing 10 runs over 10 innings.

Rockies: RHP Jon Gray (8-6, 4.55) also lost his previous two outings, allowing 15 runs (14 earned) over eight innings.