Pittsburgh Pirates Rally For Fell Good Victory Over The Nationals

Powered by an 8th inning rally the Pittsburgh Pirates picked up a victory over the Washington Nationals on Tuesday night

Following a 13-0 blowout loss against the Washington Nationals on Monday night, the Pittsburgh Pirates were looking for a bounce back performance on Tuesday night. The team would get said performance in a 4-1 victory over the Nats.

Following the victory, the team is now 8-28 since the All-Star Break. This puts their overall record on the season at 52-73. However, after the feel good comeback victory we will focus on the positives tonight.

Chris Archer started for the Pirates on Tuesday night and was looking to build upon a stretch of strong starts. After struggling for much of the season Archer owned a 3.86 FIP in his last 10 starts. In these 10 starts he pitched 54 innings and he had struck out 31.0% of batters faced.

Early on Archer appeared to be on his way to another strong start. While he allowed a pair of hits in the 1st inning, he also struck out a pair on his way to posting a zero. However, while warming up for the second inning he called for the trainers and exited. We would come to find out this was due to shoulder discomfort.

After Archer’s night ended earlier, Clay Holmes was summoned out of the bullpen. Holmes put the team on his back and pitched his backside off for 3 2/3 innings. What he did was doubly impressive when you consider he just threw 41 pitches in relief on Sunday evening.

In 3 2/3 innings of work Holmes allowed just one hit, he hit a batter, he walked four, and he struck out three. He exited the game with a runner on first and two outs in the 5th inning to a standing ovation from the PNC Park crowd.

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Michael Feliz replaced Holmes and allowed a run-scoring double to Anthony Rendon before getting the final out of the inning. This led to Holmes being charged with a run, but it did not lessen the great work he did on Tuesday night. Feliz then went on to work around a lead off walk while pitching a scoreless top of the 6th inning.

In the 7th inning Richard Rodriguez returned from the injured list. The Priate righty needed seven pitches to retire the Nationals in order. This included picking up an inning ending strikeout of Adam Eaton.

Rodriguez picked up the first two outs of the 8th inning, but with a runner on first and two outs in the inning he was lifted for Felipe Vazquez. This came with the Pirates still trailing 1-0, and the left-handed slugging Matt Adams due up for the Nats. Vazquez would strikeout Adams to keep the score at 1-0 Washington.

Stephen Strasburg started for the Nationals and continued what has been a Cy Young worthy season by orchestrating a shoe session against the Pirates. In 7 shutout innings of work Strasburg allowed four hits, he walked just one batter, and he struck out five.

Wander Suero replaced Strasburg to start the 8th inning and allowed a lead off base hit to Jacob Stallings. After walking Melky Cabrera, Suero allowed a bunt single to Adam Frazier. This loaded the bases with no one out, and brought Suero’s night to an end.

Ex-Pirate Daniel Hudson took over for Suero and promptly allowed a sacrifice fly to Bryan Reynolds. This sac fly tied the game at 1. Hudson then allowed a 3-run home run to Starling Marte. The 22nd long ball of the season from Marte gave the Pirates a 4-1 lead.

Vazquez returned to the mound for the Pirates in the 9th inning. With two outs in the inning Marte’s night of doing it all continued when he made a leaping catch against the wall to rob Howie Kendrick of extras bases to end the game.

Tuesday night’s victory was a feel good W for the Pirates. After all the brutal losses in the past six weeks, to see the team put up a four spot in the bottom of the 8th inning to rally for victory felt great. Even with the team plummeting, wins still feel good and are more fun than losses.

A big tip of the cap goes to the Pirate bullpen for this victory. The ‘pen had to cover 8 innings, this came after being forced to cover 11 2/3 innings the previous two games. In these 8 innings of work, the ‘pen allowed just 1 run and was a major factor in the Pirate victory.

The third game of this four-game series is scheduled for 7:05 on Wednesday night. Joe Musgrove (4.59 ERA, 3.99 FIP) will start for the Pirates and the team will look for length form Big Joe who pitched 7 1/3 innings in his last start. Meanwhile, the Nats will counter with left Patrick Corbin (3.34 ERA, 3.339 FIP).