The Pirates got back on track after a series sweep at the hands of the Florida Marlins, winning the first game of their series against the Washington Nationals, 7-2.
If you didn’t see the first inning, you missed the bulk of the Pirates’ offense as the Bucs scored a total of five runs. Five of the first six Pirates at bat reached base against Nats’ starter Livan Hernandez and even though the slumping Pedro Alvarez grounded out next, he pushed across the fourth run of the inning. Shortstop Ronny Cedeno then singled to bring home Ryan Doumit and it was 5-0.
The top of the order, Andrew McCutchen, Jose Tabata, and Lyle Overbay was 5-8 with three walks and three RBI. Fans in attendance received an action figure of McCutchen, and Cutch had a good night, going 1-2 with two walks and two stolen bases (even though replays clearly showed he should have been called out on the second attempt).
On the mound, Bucs’ starter Jeff Karstens was solid, allowing only two runs over six innings. The bullpen of Chris Resop, Joe Beimel, and Evan Meek had scoreless seventh, eighth, and ninth innings respectively to close out the game. Karstens, filling in for the injured Ross Ohlendorf, is now 2-0 and has an ERA under 4.00 on the season.