Nationals nip Pirates
WASHINGTON (AP) – Austin Kearns broke a tie with a two-out RBI single in the eighth inning, and the Washington Nationals ran their winning streak to a season-high four games Thursday night with a 3-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates. After Cristian Guzman singled and Nick Johnson was hit by a pitch, Kearns drove an outside pitch to right off John Grabow (1-1) to score Guzman, who barely beat the throw from Xavier Nady.
Luis Ayala (1-1) pitched the eighth to get the victory in a game played at a torrid pace – 2 hours, 4 minutes. Jon Rauch worked the ninth for his sixth save, doubling his career total from the start of the season. He’s serving as Washington’s closer while Chad Cordero nurses an arm injury.
Freddy Sanchez and Ryan Doumit homered for the Pirates, and Wil Nieves had a two-run single for the Nationals, who have won seven of nine to improve the clubhouse mood after a terrible first three weeks of April.
The late-inning suspense meant that the game’s two starting pitchers, lefties Zach Duke and Odalis Perez, remain winless on the season despite fine efforts. Over 14 combined innings, they essentially made three bad pitches – enough to account for the four runs that left the game tied at 2-2 when both departed after the seventh inning.
Perez, still 0-3, has allowed two or fewer runs in six of his seven starts.
Copyright Associated Press 2008