Konnor Griffin’s two-run single in the eighth inning provided the go-ahead runs as the visiting Pittsburgh Pirates recorded an 11-5 win over the Washington Nationals on Sunday. <\/p>\n
Brandon Lowe hit a three-run homer and Bryan Reynolds added a solo shot. Nick Gonzales had three hits for the Pirates. <\/p>\n
Gregory Soto (5-2) earned the win in relief, allowing one hit, one run and one walk while striking out two over two innings.<\/p>\n
Luis Garcia Jr. was 2-for-5 with a two-run homer and Dylan Crews added a solo shot. Jose Tena and Keibert Ruiz each had two hits for Washington.<\/p>\n
The Pirates broke a 4-4 tie with a five-run eighth. With one out, Endy Rodriguez and Jared Triolo singled, and Jake Mangum walked to load the bases. Griffin’s single drove in pinch-runner Henry Davis and Triolo for a 6-4 lead. <\/p>\n
Lowe’s homer off Brad Lord (5-2) plated Mangum and Griffin to blow the game open.<\/p>\n
Earlier, in the second, Ryan O’Hearn coaxed a leadoff walk before Gonzales singled. Both runners moved up a base on Rodriguez’s groundout to first. Tyler Callihan’s two-run single gave the Pirates a 2-0 lead. <\/p>\n
Washington starter Cade Cavalli’s pickoff throw sailed wide of first and Callihan advanced to third on the two-base error. Pittsburgh led 3-0 on Mangum’s opposite-field RBI single.<\/p>\n
Pittsburgh extended its lead to 4-0 in the third on Reynolds’ blast to center. <\/p>\n
The Nationals cut their deficit to 4-2 on Garcia’s two-run homer in the third.<\/p>\n
Washington pulled within 4-3 in the fourth on Jorbit Vivas’ RBI groundout to first.<\/p>\n
After James Wood started the fifth with a walk, Garcia singled and Curtis Mead walked before Mason Montgomery relieved Pittsburgh starter Bubba Chandler. Griffin made a diving catch on CJ Abrams’ blooper into shallow left, but Wood tagged up and tied the game at 4-4 by beating the throw to the plate.<\/p>\n
Later, in the eighth, Crews’ solo shot cut the Pirates’ lead to 9-5.<\/p>\n
Davis’ two-run single in the ninth knocked in O’Hearn and Gonzales. <\/p>\n
Cavalli allowed four runs (three earned) on six hits with two walks and three strikeouts in 2 1\/3 innings. Chandler gave up four runs on six hits with four walks over four innings.<\/p>\n
–Field Level Media<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Konnor Griffin’s two-run single in the eighth inning provided the go-ahead runs as the visiting Pittsburgh Pirates recorded an 11-5 win over the Washington Nationals on Sunday. Brandon Lowe hit…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":480908,"template":"","news_cat":[59,4384,4388,4383],"class_list":["post-480907","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news_cat-mlb","news_cat-news","news_cat-recap","news_cat-story"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n