Joey Meneses' clutch homer lifts Nats over Rockies

Joey Meneses belted a go-ahead, three-run homer in the eighth inning to cap his three-hit performance, lifting the host Washington Nationals to a 6-5 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Tuesday.

Stone Garrett launched a solo homer in the seventh inning and Riley Adams and Jeimer Candelario each had an RBI double for the Nationals, who have won four of their past five games.

The game featured two weather-related delays and finally ended just before midnight. Washington won't have much time to savor the flavor of the win, as the rubber match of the series begins on Wednesday at 12:05 p.m. ET.

Elias Diaz's second RBI single accounted for his third hit of the night and staked the Rockies to a 5-2 lead in the top of the eighth.

Candelario countered with a run-scoring double in the bottom of the eighth, and the next batter, Meneses, deposited a 1-1 curveball from Justin Lawrence (3-4) over the wall in left field to give the Nationals the lead.

The homer was Meneses' seventh of the season and his first since he hit four in three days from July 7-9.

Jose Ferrer (1-0) emerged with his first major league victory despite allowing one run on three hits in 1 2/3 innings. Kyle Finnegan tossed a scoreless ninth inning to secure his 14th save of the season.

Lawrence permitted four runs (three earned) on three hits in one inning.

Colorado's Ezequiel Tovar homered to lead off the third inning, Michael Toglia had an RBI double and Alan Trejo contributed a run-scoring single as part of the team's 15-hit attack.

Diaz hit a two-out single in the second inning off Trevor Williams and came around to score on Toglia's RBI double just inside the right field line. Toglia didn't stay on second base for long, as he scored on Trejo's single to left field.

Washington halved the deficit on Adams' RBI double in the second inning, but Garrett was thrown out at the plate on the play to end the inning.

Tovar restored Colorado's two-run lead to begin the third inning by sending a first-pitch slider from Williams off the left field foul pole.

Ryan McMahon followed with a single, advanced to third on a single and a groundout and scored on a single to left field by Diaz.