MLB Season Review: Pittsburgh Pirates defeat Washington Nationals 2-1 in three-game series
National League’s Washington Nationals and Pittsburgh Pirates were full of confidence after finishing their Spring Training season in a nice fashion. Pirates were stunning and did a tremendous job as they completed a 2-1 victory in this series after defeating
the Nationals.
Let us take an overview and see how the Pirates overpowered the Nationals.
Game 1 – April 23: Washington Nationals 2 – Pittsburgh Pirates 7
Pirates directed a 7-2 win in the first game, as Jeff Karstens was impressive with his pitching. He had three strike-outs with an ERA of 3.94 in the Pirates convincing victory. Speaking to reporters, Karstens said, “I was trying to be aggressive without
being stupid and as efficient with my pitches as possible. We finally showed the home fans what we're capable of doing.”
Conversely, Nationals’ batters were only able to contribute two runs in the entire game. Livan Hernandez pitched well for the Nationals but that was not enough to earn a win for his team. He was able to strike-out only two batters on his 110 pitches and
permitted nine hits with four earned runs.
Game 2 – April 24: Washington Nationals 6 – Pittsburgh Pirates 3
During the second game, Nationals overpowered the Pirates 6-3. Nationals’ starter, Jason Marquis pitched the ball accurately as he threw six innings and yielded just three runs and three earned runs with eight hits on his 100 pitches. Marquis had two strike-outs
with an ERA of 3.55.
Marquis expressed his feelings and said, “I felt like I was getting better as the game went on. Felt like my stuff was getting better, felt like I was getting stronger.”
Pirates struggled with the bat and contributed only three runs until the end of the game. Kevin Correia had an average day with the ball as he threw just over four innings with an ERA of 3.48 and gave away 11 hits, five runs, one walk, two homers and five
earned runs on his 84 pitches.
Game 3 – April 25: Washington Nationals 2 – Pittsburgh Pirates 4
In the final game of the series, Nationals lost 4-2. Pirates’ third baseman Brandon Wood shined as he took one run including two RBIs and went 1-for-4 with an average of .250.
Nationals were able to post only two runs in the last game. John Lannan pitched just over five innings and gave away four runs, five hits, four earned runs and two walks on his 99 pitches. However, an impressive team effort kept the Pirates on top against
the struggling Nationals and they were able to win the series comfortably. The Pirates were beginning to build some momentum early on in the regular season.
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