Ramos led off a two-run sixth with his 22nd homer, a drive off Antonio Bastardo.
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“I love the tempo he’s been using on the mound”, Hurdle said. The duo yielded one earned run over eight-plus innings of work before Dusty Baker called on Marc Rzepczynski and Blake Treinen to get the final outs.
1300. Andrew McCutchen’s next hit will be the 1300th of his career.
Baker had been out of baseball for two seasons and was tasked with getting a team considered a National League favorite back into the playoffs after a surprise absence in 2015. He allowed eight hits and six runs, three earned, over four innings before departing. Washington scored three runs in the first inning and did it with only five official at-bats.
“It was getting better and better”, Schugel said, “and then I started picking up the pace a bit and it kind of went the other way”. I went down and hit on the tee before that inning. Danny Espinosa followed with his 23rd homer, to dead center, to make it 3-0. Pirates left fielder Sean Rodriguez appeared to be the first one out on the field, and he engaged in a long-distance shouting match with Nationals veterans Jayson Werth and Oliver Perez, who both came onto the field as well.
Adam Frazier had a sacrifice fly in the bottom of half. He pitched a scoreless ninth inning with one strikeout.
Second in WAR among the Nationals’ position players is Anthony Rendon (4.0 before Saturday’s game).
“It’s disappointing because you want to wrap up a playoff berth as fast as you can but you’re not going to win every game”, Gonzalez said.
Former Pirates closer Mark Melancon made his first appearance back at PNC Park pitching the ninth or the Nationals, but it wasn’t a sweet return. Josh Bell’s first-pitch homer to right in the third pulled the Pirates within 3-1. Against the Pirates’ Tyler Glasnow, Baker announced his plans to start 24-year-old A.J.
Nationals: Drew was taking the place of 2B Daniel Murphy (strained glute), who did not start for the sixth game in a row. Considering the organization’s top propsect, Glasnow is 0-1 with a 4.11 ERA in five games, including two starts. He will sit out the three-game series be reevaluated. LF Starling Marte (back) sat out after being removed from Thursday night’s loss at Milwaukee in the third inning.
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Washington’s Joe Ross was making his second start since missing 66 games because of right shoulder inflammation. Since starting his Pittsburgh career 5-0 after being acquired August 1 from the New York Yankees, he lost for the second start in a row. The rookie was placed on the disabled list the following day with shoulder inflammation and has made three relief appearances since being activated August 28. Pirates SS Jordy Mercer was out of the lineup because of a forearm injury. He took his first loss with the Pirates last Sunday, allowing five runs in three innings against Cincinnati.
