Pirates set season-highs in runs and hits in Nationals win
By COLIN BEAZLEY
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
PITTSBURGH (TNS) — It wasn’t a perfect baseball game, but sometimes, it seems a Paul Skenes start day cures all the Pirates’ ills.
A day after a two-hit shutout loss in Cincinnati, the Pirates jumped all over the Washington Nationals, setting season-highs in hits and runs in a 10-3 win Monday at PNC Park. Skenes pitched six solid innings, third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes had four RBIs and the Pirates scored five runs in the eighth inning alone to win the series opener.
The Pirates bettered Sunday’s offensive performance in the first inning alone, matching the day with two hits and three baserunners and, most importantly, scoring a run. Right fielder Andrew McCutchen started it with a two-out single, first baseman Enmanuel Valdez walked and Hayes singled McCutchen home. Hayes was thrown out after taking a wide turn around first base.
Pittsburgh added a second in the third when center fielder Oneil Cruz scorched an opposite field double, then scored on a single from designated hitter Bryan Reynolds.
The Pirates seemed to open the game up with a three-run fifth inning, going up 5-0 and chasing Nationals starter Brad Lord from the game. Reynolds hit a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded to score left fielder Tommy Pham, and with the bases loaded again, Valdez scored two on a single to right.
Valdez was thrown out trying to reach second on the throw home.
It slipped a bit in the sixth. Skenes, who had retired 10 batters in a row, allowed a double to No.
9 hitter Nasim Nunez, then right fielder Alex Call reached on a Hayes error. Nunez scored on a James Wood fielder’s choice. Skenes tried to pick off Wood, but a low, yet catchable throw got past Valdez and ended up in the right field corner. Wood scored on a Nathaniel Lowe single to center field, with Lowe reaching second when Cruz failed to field the ball cleanly.
Those three errors, plus another misplayed Skenes pickoff in the first — that also probably should have been caught by Valdez — resulted in a season-high four error day for Pittsburgh. But a good start from Skenes, three solid innings from the Pirate bullpen and five insurance runs in the eighth inning meant the Pirates had more than enough to win anyways.
