After an impressive come-from-behind win on Tuesday, the Washington Nationals lost on Wednesday and Thursday in Pittsburgh to the Pirates. On Wednesday they lost 3-1 and on Thursday they fell by a score of 7-5. The two losses drop the Nationals to 26-42 as they continue to plummet down the standings.
John Lannan started on the mound on Wednesday and actually pitched very well despite getting handed a loss. Lannan allowed two runs over his six innings of work. His record dropped to 4-7 but he has a very impressive ERA of 3.43. Joel Hanrahan came on in the seventh and gave up another run to make a comeback less than likely. Jason Bergmann got the start on Thursday and wasn’t nearly as sharp as Lannan was the day before. Bergmann got hit pretty hard in his 4.2 innings as he gave up six runs, four of which were earned. Five Washington relievers finished the game for the Nationals with Jon Rauch giving up a run in the 8th inning.
The Nationals got their only run on Wednesday courtesy of an Elijah Dukes RBI single that scored Felipe Lopez. They collected only seven hits against the Pirates but did work their way on base with six walks. Unfortunately, it didn’t add up to more than the lone run. On Thursday, they got some runs, although it was in a losing effort. Cristian Guzman had the big bat on Thursday as he racked up three hits and drove in three runs. Elijah Dukes added a pair of hits and a pair of RBIs.
The Nationals will now head to Seattle to take on the Mariners. Shawn Hill will start the series opener on Friday. Game time is 10 pm.