Ryan McMahon draws bases-loaded walk on pitch-clock violation, Rockies beat Nationals 8-7

DENVER (AP) — Ryan McMahon drew a bases-loaded walk on a full-count, pitch-clock violation by Kyle Finnegan, and the Colorado Rockies scored two runs in the ninth inning for an 8-7 victory over the Washington Nationals on Saturday night.

It was the first game decided by a pitch-clock violation in major league history. Nationals closer Finnegan leads the league with nine pitch-clock violations this season.

“I’m just trying to focus on the pitch and then location,” Finnegan said. “I thought I picked up the clock. I guess by the time I picked up and looked at the catcher and delivered the pitch, I was just a hair too late. Those situations, it just can’t happen. We deserved to win and I wasn't able to do my job."

Colorado had four straight singles to open the ninth off Finnegan (2-4) to bring up McMahon, who fell behind 0-2. Hunter Goodman and Jake Cave singled to open the inning, and Brenton Doyle singled to tie it after fouling off two bunt attempts. Ezequiel Tovar hit a line single to right to load the bases. Finnegan had converted 21 of his previous 23 save chances.

“You hate to see a game decided that way, but I’m happy it worked out in our favor,” McMahon said. “I'm never looking (at the clock). I'm letting the umpire do his job. I didn't know what was going on until the umpire said something.”

The pitch clock was adopted in 2023, but the time between pitches with runners on base was shortened from 20 seconds to 18 this season.

“Kyle has had some trouble lately with the clock," Washington manager Dave Martinez said. "It hadn’t really cost him to that point, but it’s something that we’ve kind of felt like might come back to haunt him at some point. He could have stepped off, but it’s a tough situation.

“That’s something that he has to be mindful of. He’s just slow. So it burned him today. Typically it hasn’t burned him.”

Luis Garcia hit a two-run homer to give Washington a 7-5 lead in the eighth inning and CJ Abrams had three his including his 12th home run. The Nationals had won 10 of 13.

Abrams finished a triple short of the cycle while extending his hitting streak to 13 games. He had two RBIs and scored twice.

Brendan Rodgers, Goodman and McMahon homered for the Rockies, who tied it on Goodman’s homer in the seventh off Jacob Barnes. Goodman has five homers in the last eight games. McMahon had three hits, and his bases-empty homer in the eighth inning brought the Rockies within a run at 7-6.

“The Rockies and the Nationals are part of history,” Colorado manager Bud Black said. “How about that?”

Ezequiel Tovar singled, and walked and scored twice. He scored on catcher Jacob Stallings’ single in the first inning and on Rodgers’ three-run homer for a 4-2 lead in the third. Rodgers played his first game since June 7, when he suffered a hamstring injury. He hit cleanup for the eighth time this season.

Abrams and Lane Thomas singled in runs for a 5-4 lead in the seventh inning, but the Nationals ran themselves out of more when Abrams and Thomas were thrown out attempting to steal second. Thomas had two hits.

The Nationals are third in the majors with 104 stolen bases but have been thrown out a major league-high 38 times. Stallings threw out three of four Nationals’ runners attempting to steal, all at second.

“Getting thrown out is not going to stop us from being aggressive on the base paths,” Abrams said. “We're going to keep doing what we are doing.”

Nationals starter Mitchell Parker gave up four runs and six hits while striking out eight, including the final five he faced. He had not given up more than three earned runs in any of his previous 12 starts.

Colorado starter Cal Quantrill gave up three runs and seven hits in six innings for his ninth quality start. He left with a 4-3 lead.

Washington left fielder Jesse Winkler was ejected by home plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt after taking a called third strike for the second out in the fifth inning. Winkler briefly argued with Wendelstedt at the plate, and he was ejected after going into the dugout, his sixth career ejection.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Rockies: RHP Jake Bird (groin tightness) was removed from the game after facing three batters in he seventh inning. … RF Sean Bouchard (back soreness) was replaced after three innings. … RHP German Marquez (Tommy John surgery) gave up one hit in four scoreless innings in a rehab start for Class A Spokane on Saturday. He struck out three, walked two and threw 50 pitches.

UP NEXT

Colorado LHP Kyle Freeland (0-3, 13.21 ERA) is expected to be activated from the injured list to make his fifth start Sunday, his first since April 14, after missing nine weeks a left elbow strain. He will oppose Nationals RHP Jake Irvin (5-6, 3.24).

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

Colorado Rockies' Ryan McMahon (24) and Nolan Jones celebrate the team's win against the Washington Nationals in a baseball game Saturday, June 22, 2024, in Denver. (AP Photo/Geneva Heffernan)

Colorado Rockies' Ryan McMahon heads to first on a bases-loaded walk, driving in Jake Cave, right rear, with the winning run against the Washington Nationals in a baseball game Saturday, June 22, 2024, in Denver. (AP Photo/Geneva Heffernan)

Washington Nationals third baseman Nick Senzel pulls in a pop foul by Colorado Rockies' Ryan McMahon to end the baseball game Friday, June 21, 2024, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Colorado Rockies' Ryan McMahon, front, and Nolan Jones celebrate the team's win against the Washington Nationals in a baseball game Saturday, June 22, 2024, in Denver. (AP Photo/Geneva Heffernan)

Colorado Rockies' Ryan McMahon tosses his bat after earning a bases-loaded walk to score the winning run against the Washington Nationals in a baseball game Saturday, June 22, 2024, in Denver. (AP Photo/Geneva Heffernan)

Colorado Rockies' Ryan McMahon celebrates after he was walked with the bases loaded to give the Rockies a win against the Washington Nationals in a baseball game Saturday, June 22, 2024, in Denver. (AP Photo/Geneva Heffernan)

Washington Nationals first base coach Gerardo Parra and CJ Abrams celebrate Abrams' RBI single against the Colorado Rockies durinng the seventh inning of a baseball game Saturday, June 22, 2024, in Denver. (AP Photo/Geneva Heffernan)

Washington Nationals' Luis García Jr. watches his two-run home run against the Colorado Rockies during the eighth inning of a baseball game Saturday, June 22, 2024, in Denver. (AP Photo/Geneva Heffernan)

Washington Nationals' Luis García Jr. celebrates his two-run home run against the Colorado Rockies during the eighth inning of a baseball game Saturday, June 22, 2024, in Denver. (AP Photo/Geneva Heffernan)

Washington Nationals' Jacob Young singles on a bunt against the Colorado Rockies during the seventh inning of a baseball game Saturday, June 22, 2024, in Denver. (AP Photo/Geneva Heffernan)

Washington Nationals' Lane Thomas watches his RBI single against the Colorado Rockies during the seventh inning of a baseball game Saturday, June 22, 2024, in Denver. (AP Photo/Geneva Heffernan)

Washington Nationals first baseman Joey Meneses, left, and Luis García Jr. celebrate a two-run home run by García against the Colorado Rockies during the eighth inning of a baseball game Saturday, June 22, 2024, in Denver. (AP Photo/Geneva Heffernan)

Colorado Rockies manager Bud Black, left, pulls relief pitcher Justin Lawrence (61) during the eighth inning of the team's baseball game against the Washington Nationals on Saturday, June 22, 2024, in Denver. (AP Photo/Geneva Heffernan)

Colorado Rockies' Hunter Goodman watches his solo home run against the Washington Nationals during the seventh inning of a baseball game Saturday, June 22, 2024, in Denver. (AP Photo/Geneva Heffernan)

Colorado Rockies' Hunter Goodman celebrates his solo home run against the Washington Nationals during the seventh inning of a baseball game Saturday, June 22, 2024, in Denver. (AP Photo/Geneva Heffernan)

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union and Britain on Monday imposed sanctions on Russian military intelligence officers, hackers and private companies, denouncing what they described as a yearslong cyberespionage campaign to undermine governments in Europe.

The EU decision affects nine people and four entities accused of links to an online spying network that the bloc said has targeted governments and carried out sabotage operations against critical infrastructure like heating and power plants since 2010. Britain slapped sanctions on 24 people and entities.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said those hit by the sanctions “contribute to Russia’s efforts to destabilize the EU, its member states and international partners.”

France, Germany, Poland, Cyprus, the Netherlands, Austria, Slovakia, Romania and Finland, “among others,” have fallen prey to the network, she said in a statement.

Germany summoned Russia's ambassador, and French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said Paris intends to call in Russia's envoy in the coming days. He told French BFM television that the aim of the cyberactivities is “either to capture information, or sabotage the operation, for example, of railway infrastructures, as it was the case in Poland.”

The EU focused its sanctions, which are mostly asset freezes and travel bans, on the 16th Center of Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB. Kallas said the FSB has been “controlling a variety of cyberthreat groups,” and said it “has conducted a wide range of malicious cyberactivities with growing severity.”

Some countries have accused Russia of using cyberattacks and propaganda to interfere with elections.

In April, Sweden said a pro-Russian group with links to Russia’s security and intelligence services was behind a cyberattack on a heating plant last year. The announcement followed warnings from officials in Poland, Norway, Denmark and Latvia that Russia is attacking critical infrastructure across Europe.

With its sanctions, the EU notably targeted a member of Russia's GRU military intelligence agency, Yevgeny Bashev, and a company it says he runs, Impuls.

“The company provides technical and material support to cyberattacks and attempted cyberattacks conducted by GRU Unit 29155,” the sanctions notification said. It said the actions of Impuls “constitute an external threat” to EU member countries and have had “a significant effect” on an unnamed country outside the bloc.

Britain said Impuls recruited hackers and cyber specialists from Russian universities and academies. It slapped sanctions on Bashev as well as three other senior GRU officials “for their role in directing GRU cyber and hybrid threat operations.”

Britain believes Russian intelligence agencies “have tasked cybercriminals to collect intelligence to support Russia’s military and foreign policy objectives, threatening security across Europe.”

Poland's Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski speaks with the media as he arrives for a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels, Monday, July 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Marius Burgelman)

European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, left, speaks with Cypriot Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos, center, during a round table meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels, Monday, July 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Marius Burgelman)

From left, Poland's Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, Netherland's Foreign Minister Tom Berendsen, Belgium's Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot and Portugal's Foreign Minister Paulo Rangel during a round table meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels, Monday, July 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Marius Burgelman)

European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas rings a bell to signify the start of a round table meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels, Monday, July 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Marius Burgelman)