Was it a Strasburg hangover? I don’t think so. The Pirates got some offense, but couldn’t keep the Nats off home plate. Brad Lincoln’s first ML start was a no decision. He and Jose Tabata each had two hits in their ML debuts. So, technically, Lincoln did something Straburg didn’t do – get a hit.
The Pirates collected 10 singles, five walks, two doubles and stole four bases. But they could only manage to score five times. They stranded 10. Five Pirates had multi-hit games including both rookies. Lastings Milledge scored twice and drove in a run.
The Pirates briefly held a 4-2 lead. But Washington, who had scored early runs with a two run dinger from Adam Dunn, put together a three run fourth inning to take the lead. John Lannan – Washington’s starter – had the go ahead RBI. Lincoln returned the favor in the next frame, with an RBI single that tied the game with two outs in fifth. His hit pushed Lannan to the shower.
Washington went up for good in the 7th. A single from Cristian Guzman was followed by a Nyjer Morgan sacrifice. Ryan Zimmerman singled off the leg of D.J. Carrasco to get Guzman home. Wil Nieves added an insurance run in the 8th with a sac fly off Brendan Donnelley.
Garrett Jones doubled off Matt Capps in the 9th. But the Pirates could do no more damage.
Lincoln allowed five runs on seven hits in six innings. He whiffed three. Carrasco was the loser in allowing that one run in the seventh. Lannan lasted 4-2/3 and gave up five runs (four earned) on 10 hits. Drew Storen -the second man out of the bullpen – was the winner with a scoreless inning. Capps earned his 20th save.
The Good
Tabata had a pair of infield singles.
Getting double digits in hits.
The Bad
Not driving home runners.
Giving up seven runs.
The Rest
This was just the second time in the last 13 games the Pirates had double digits in hits.
Last Pirate to get two hits or more in his ML debut was Andrew McCutchen. I can find no instances of two Pirate players collecting two hits each in their ML debut. Last time two Bucs making their debut and each getting at least one hit was 9/1/07 when Morgan and Steve Pearce did it. Last time I can tell that two teammates had two hits on their ML debut was 4/4/89 when Jerome Walton and Joe Girardi did it for Chicago.
