Stephen Strasburg (13-0) threw eight masterful innings and drove in a run with a bunt, and Michael Taylor hit a two-run homer as Washington beat Pittsburgh.
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For all the progress starter Francisco Liriano showed Friday night, a seventh-inning defensive meltdown cost the Pittsburgh Pirates against the Washington Nationals. He went eight innings, giving up only that one run, with three hits and two walks. He left after allowing a single and hit by pitch to start the ninth, and Blake Treinen came on to get the last three outs. In 2016, it’s been much of the same, as they dropped their second straight game to the Washington Nationals, 6-0 on Saturday night.
Tampa Bay starter Chris Archer (4-13) leads the majors with 13 losses and the Rays have just one win in his last 11 starts.
The Pirates have Gerrit Cole on the mound to face Tanner Roark of the Nationals. The right-hander was on cruise control all night, leading the Nationals to a 6-0 victory. Stephen Piscotty and Randal Grichuk also connected for St. Louis, which hit two each off Wei-Yin Chen and reliever David Phelps but had three defensive miscues.
The 2015 All-Star allowed five runs – four earned – with five strikeouts.
“I messed the signs up the previous at-bat and didn’t get the bunt down”, said Strasburg, who fanned in the fifth after unsuccessfully trying to lay one down with two strikes.
Pirates: RHP Ryan Vogelsong, who has been out since May 23 when he was hit by a pitch and suffered three facial fractures, threw six scoreless innings in a rehab start for Double-A Altoona.
Can the Washington Nationals stay hot and win their fifth straight when they host the Pittsburgh Pirates at 7:05PM ET?
METS 5, PHILLIES 3: Neil Walker hit a three-run homer and Juan Lagares also went deep to lead NY at Philadelphia. Rendon brought the Nats’ first run home in the first inning on a single to left field against Cole. Against Washington, he allowed seven hits and walked two. They’ve now won five in a row, and with both the Mets and Marlins losing tonight, they’ve opened up a seven-game lead in the NL East.
With the bases loaded, Roark reached on an infield single to drive in a run and the throw by second baseman Josh Harrison landed in the Washington first-base dugout to allow a second run to score. Drew, who was filling in for Daniel Murphy at second base (out with sore hamstring), went 3-for-4 with two doubles in this game.
Pirates: RF Gregory Polanco will either return to the lineup by Tuesday or be placed on the disabled list with left hamstring tightness, manager Clint Hurdle said.
– Mets pitcher Bartolo Colon took a flawless game into the fifth inning against the Phillies before Cameron Rupp grounded a one-out single to break it up.
“A lot of times you can catch teams that are still in vacation-mode right before the first half ends and right when the second half starts and I don’t know, what have we picked up, three of four games in the last six or seven?”
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Carlos Correa went 2-for-4 with a two-run double, while Gonzalez and Jake Marisnick also added a pair of hits for Houston. Cole has been out since June 11 with a strained right triceps muscle.
