Sometimes, there is crying in baseball. And the game is better off for it.

Friday night at Nationals Park, Rockies outfielder Sam Hilliard hit a two-out, two-run homer in the sixth inning to put his team ahead, 7-6. After returning to the dugout, Hilliard, in tears, left his teammates for a few minutes. When he took his spot in left field, the tears were still flowing.

Then Hilliard, poetically, also scored the winning run in the ninth in Colorado’s multi-rally, 9-8 victory. Elias Diaz led off with a solo homer, tying the game, 8-8. Then Hilliard singled to right, stole second, advanced to third on Garrett Hampson’s sacrifice bunt and scored on Brendan Rodgers’ single to left.

It’s been an emotional and poignant week for Hilliard.

On Sunday, Hilliard’s father, Jim, passed away after a three-year battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. Hilliard, along with his mother, Tamara Hext Hilliard, spearheaded Team Hilliard ALS, which raises money for research and treatment of the dreaded disease.

The Rockies, road woeful for most of the season, have become road warriors, winning four straight. They are 6-1 on the current road trip, winning both games at Atlanta after taking three of four at Philadelphia. They have clinched their first winning road trip of the season.

But a win looked doubtful in the eighth when the Nats took an 8-7 lead. Nats pinch-hitter Ryan Zimmerman lined a one-out double to left off of reliever Jhoulys Chacin and scored on Alcides Escobar’s single. Rookie lefty Lucas Gilbreath entered the game and walked the dangerous Juan Soto to load the bases. Josh Bell hit an RBI grounder to Rodgers at second, and although Rodgers tagged out Soto on the basepath he couldn’t complete the double play because he got tangled up with Soto.

Colorado rallied to beat the Nats despite a rough start by German Marquez. The first-time all-star was off from the beginning and ended up allowing six runs on eight hits in just four innings. The right-hander needed 80 pitches (just 48 strikes) to get through his short start.

In the first, Washington capitalized on a walk by Marquez and a throwing error by shortstop Trevor Story when Kelbert Ruiz raked a two-run double.

But the Nationals’ four-run fourth inning was Marquez’s undoing. Washington sent nine men to the plate and ripped the right-hander for five hits. The big blow was a two-out, three-run homer to center by Lane Thomas that put the Nationals ahead, 6-2. Thomas crushed Marquez’s 0-1 slider.

Colorado rallied in the fifth on Rodgers’ two-run homer off of Josiah Gray. Rodgers has hit 13 homers, with 12 of them coming on the road this season.

That set the stage for Hilliard’s big moment in the sixth. Story led off with a double and scored on Ryan McMahon’s opposite-field single to left. Up to the plate stepped Hilliard, who blasted lefty Alberto Baldonado’s 2-2, 93.8 mph fastball to right-center field.

Joe update. When left fielder Connor Joe first went on the injured list with a strained right hamstring on Sept. 4, manager Bud Black was hopeful that Joe would return before the end of the season. Now, Black’s not so sure.

“If you’ve heard me say it once, you’ve heard me say it a thousand times — hamstrings are tricky,” Black said. “This is really the first time Connor has hurt his hamstring to a significant level, and they take time (to heal).

“I was pretty optimistic (when asked) about his potential return. Now, I might have to backtrack on that and see where we are in a week to 10 days.”

After getting called up from Triple-A Albuquerque for the second time on July 20, Joe took off, solidified his place as a candidate to be a starter in 2022. Joe is hitting .285 with eight homers and a.848 OPS in 63 games.