Miguel Andujar’s tiebreaking, two-run homer in the sixth inning lifted the visiting Pittsburgh Pirates to a 6-3 victory over the Washington Nationals in the first game of a doubleheader on Saturday.
Andujar went 2-for-3 with three RBIs, while Connor Joe went 1-for-4 with a solo homer and two runs for Pittsburgh. Rodolfo Castro added two hits for the Pirates, who won for the 10th time in their past 11 games.
Pittsburgh starter Rich Hill (3-2) allowed three runs — two earned — on eight hits with five strikeouts and no walks in 6 1/3 innings before being relieved by Robert Stephenson, who closed out the seventh. Colin Holderman pitched a perfect eighth and David Bednar struck out two in the ninth for his ninth save of the season.
Riley Adams went 2-for-4 with two RBIs, Luis Garcia went 2-for-4 with a triple and two runs and Alex Call also collected two hits for the Nationals, who dropped their second straight game.
Trailing 4-2 in the sixth, the Nationals pulled to within 4-3 when Lane Thomas’ RBI grounder scored Garcia, who had led off with a triple.
The Pirates plated two more runs in the eighth after loading the bases with no outs. Reliever Anthony Banda walked Austin Hedges to force home pinch runner Jack Suwinski before reliever Erasmo Ramirez gave up a sacrifice fly to Brian Reynolds that scored Ji Hwan Bae for a 6-3 advantage.
Pittsburgh took a 1-0 lead in the second inning on Andujar’s single to left that scored Joe, who led off to walk and took second on Castro’s base hit.
The Pirates doubled their lead in the fourth when Joe blasted Washington starter Patrick Corbin’s sinker 411 feet over the center field fence.
Washington pulled even in its next at-bat on Adams’ two-run double to left that scored Garcia and Garrett.
After giving up a double to Andrew McCutchen to open the sixth inning and getting Joe to ground out, Corbin was relieved by Carl Edwards Jr. Edwards induced a Castro to ground out to second, but seven pitches later Andujar blasted a two-run shot to center, giving Pittsburgh a 4-2 advantage.
Corbin (1-4) gave up three runs on seven hits with two strikeouts and a walk in 5 1/3 innings.
–Field Level Media
