Pirates/MLB
Pittsburgh Pirates Washington 4 – Pittsburgh 2
The Washington Nationals completed a three game sweep, defeating the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-2 on Thursday night.
The loss was the Pirates 5th in a row and the Pirates fell to 9-22 on the road.
Optimism has been brewing of late with the callup of Neil Walker, Brad Lincoln and Jose Tabata but that hasn’t led to more competitive baseball as the Pirates are now 14 games under .500.
At the 60 game mark, the Pirates (23-37) are 5 games worst than they were last year after 60 games.
Pittsburgh’s lack of run support on a nightly basis and lack power remains a major problem throughout the organization. In the Nationals three game sweep of Pittsburgh, the Nationals out homered the Pirates 7-1.
Zach Duke (3-7, 5.30 ERA) took the loss and fell to 3-7 on the season.
Duke allowed three runs (two earned) on 8 hits over five innings. Duke also walked 3 batters.
Jose Tabata who was questionable coming into the game, was 1-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI. Tabata doubled to deep right scoring Duke in the 6th inning.
Neil Walker was 1-for-4 and has reached base in 9 straight games. Walker is batting .322 on the season.
Ryan Doumit made his first start at first base since May 14, 2007. Doumit was 0-for-4 at the plate.
Reliever Evan Meek pitched 1 shutout inning of relief, lowing his ERA to 0.76.
Manager John Russell announced prior to the game that Ryan Doumit and Ryan Church will be candidates to DH during the Pirates interleague series against Detroit this weekend.
