In the fourth, the Nats tacked on three more insurance runs and took advantage of some bad fielding.
Advertisement
Shortly after the Nationals finished off the Pirates, the Phillies closed out the Mets.
The Washington Nationals could use a win after losing five of their last seven games.
“It’s real big”, center fielder Trea Turner said, per MASNSports.com’s Mark Zuckerman. Drew was one of three Washington Nationals tonight to have a multi-hit game Werth and Wilson Ramos were the other two, although Ramos went 3-for-5.
The Nationals are 4-1 in their last 5 during game 3 of a series and 1-5 in Coles last 6 starts.
This season, the Nationals’ story was one of dogged consistency. This will be Cole’s first career game against the Pirates. Sean Rodriguez had an RBI double on Friday and has hit safely in 11 of his last 12 games. He bounced back with a scoreless 10th inning, but the Pirates eventually won the game in the 11th. Sep.
Kelley came back out for the bottom of the eighth and retired the Pirates in order, on a few well-struck fly balls. Still 5-4 Nationals.
Daniel Murphy, who is sitting out of his fifth-straight game, still has the NL’s second-highest AVG (.347), the second-most mulit-hit games (tied, 56) and second-most RBIs (tied, 104). At this point, the Nats have a two game lead on Los Angeles with eight to play. Starling Marte leads Pittsburgh with 152 hits, Andrew McCutchen has 75 RBI and Gregory Polanco has 22 home runs.
Advertisement
Former Nationals’ reliever Felipe Rivero has a 1.40 ERA and 35 Ks in 24 games and 24 IP since he was acquired from Washington in the deal that sent Mark Melancon to the Pirates.
