After last night’s game was postponed and this one was delayed, the Pirates quickly gave the fans in attendance what they wanted: an early lead. Pittsburgh batted around and scored five runs on six hits in the first inning, giving a nice cushion to starter Jeff Karstens.
Andrew McCutchen singled and Jose Tabata doubled to put Nats starter Livan Hernandez into trouble early. Lyle Overbay’s single scored one run. Garrett Jones doubled, scoring another. Ryan Doumit singled, scoring a third runner. Pedro Alvarez produced a run scoring ground ball and Ronny Cedeno capped the scoring with an RBI single.
Washington put together a couple of run scoring innings, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the big inning from Pittsburgh. Michael Morse had an RBI single in the second that scored former Buc Adam LaRoche. Jayson Werth hit a solo homer in the fourth.
Pittsburgh got the runs back with a Tabata sac fly in the second and an Overbay RBI single in the sixth.
Hernandez survived the first inning to allow four earned runs (seven all told) in six innings. He walked four and gave up nine hits. Karstens went six and gave up two runs on six hits. He struck out two and walked two.
The Good
Nice job by Karstens.
Tabata, Overbay and Cedeno each had two hits.
McCutchen stole two bases and Tabata swiped his ninth on the year.
Chris Resop, Joe Beimel and Evan Meek combined for three innings of hitless relief.
The Bad
Alvarez was 0-4. Hopefully he’ll snap out of it.
The Rest
Karstens won for the second time in 2011 after gaining just two wins in 2010. This was his first win as a starter in 2011 and just his second since June 19, 2010.
Washington came into the game hitting a collective .241 against Karstens.
Hernandez falls to 5-6 career against the Pirates. His lifetime ERA was over 5.50 coming into this game. The Pirates came in hitting .297 against him.
It’ll be interesting to see how the Jayson Werth contract plays out. He is grossly overpaid and the liklihood of him being a Nat when they are ready to contend is unlikely. I see him being traded to a team with deep pockets in a couple of years at the deadline for some prospects.
I’m glad Jason Bay is back and that he homered today. Speking of Bay, Andy LaRoche has played all four infield positions in a part-time role in Oakland. Brandon Moss is at AAA Lehigh Valley trying to jump start his career with Philly. Craig Hansen’s career is in jeopardy after being diagnosed with a muscle disorder. The Pirates released him earlier this year. Bryan Morris – the other guy the Pirates got for Bay – is starting for AA Altoona. He is the last hope of salvaging something from the deal.