The Pittsburgh Pirates traveled to Washington D.C. to take on the Nationals, dropping the first game of the two-game set 7-4. Early on, the Pirates struggled to get solid contact on the ball with Gio Gonzalez on the mound for the Nats, as he struck out 10 batters in seven innings of work. Gonzalez gave up just four hits, but one of those hits was a two-run home run by Josh Harrison in the seventh inning to pull within a run of the Nats.
The Nats offense went back to work, however, adding three more runs the very next inning after Clint Hurdle inexplicably allowed the newly-recalled Evan Meek to hit a batter, walk two more and eventually allow an Adam LaRoche double with the bases loaded. Erik Bedard picked up his fifth loss of the season, in part because he gave up three home runs to the Nats. The Bucs have now dropped two in a row to the Nationals.
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