It felt like neither team wanted to win this afternoon showdown, but eventually the Nats defeated the Pirates 8-7 in extra innings. They secured a series split and head home only one game below .500. This was far from a pretty affair, and there is plenty to nitpick, but a win is a win.
For the first four innings just flew by with Braxton Ashcraft and Foster Griffin matching zeroes. However, things got whacky in the 5th inning and stayed that way for the rest of the game.
The Nats loaded the bases with
a walk, a hit batsman and a double. Then with one out the Pirates made one of the weirdest plays I have ever seen which allowed the Nats to score three runs. I have a hard time even describing the play, so just watch the video down below if you have not seen the play.
After Luis Garcia Jr. ended up at second following the chaos, the Pirates made another mistake on an errant pickoff throw allowing another run to score. However, the Nats pitching staff would not be able to make this lead stick. I thought Foster Griffin had a mostly excellent start, but had a rough inning, allowing four runs, with three of them coming on a Marcell Ozuna homer.
Griffin was sharp today, and actually had more swing and miss stuff than usual today. He was leaning more on his sinker and less on his four-seamer in this start. That is a tweak I like and think will help him out going forward.
The Nats responded in the 6th with one of their only normal runs of the game. Jorbit Vivas got on with two outs and then pinch hitter Joey Wiemer drove him in with a double. The Nats have been pinch hitting their catchers a lot midway through games and today it paid off.
Most Nats fans knew this new found 5-4 lead would not hold up and they were right. Paxton Schultz and PJ Poulin combined to allow two runs in the bottom of the 6th, with much of the damage coming thanks to a triple by teenaged phenom Konnor Griffin.
However, as we are learning, the 2026 Nats do not have any quit in them. After knocks from James Wood and Daylen Lile, CJ Abrams was intentionally walked. With Jacob Young coming to the plate, that move was a no-brainer, but the Pirates plunked Young and the game was tied.
The Nats did not hit well with runners in scoring position today, but somehow runs still came across. This was mostly due to poor Pirates defense and erratic pitching. The Nats only went 1/14 with runners in scoring position today and hit no homers. They still found a way to score 8 runs though.
With a 7-6 lead, it seemed like the Nationals bullpen was locking in. Gus Varland and Cionel Perez both had scoreless outings and looked good. Perez has looked more like the guy we saw in Spring Training in his last couple outings. His veteran presence and ability to generate ground balls will be important for the Nats bullpen.
However, they were not out of the woods yet. Once the Nats did not score despite having the bases loaded with nobody out, you could sense this game was at least going to be tied. The erratic Clayton Beeter walked and hit the first two batters he faced.
However, he still managed to get one strike away from closing the door. Brandon Lowe had other plans though. He snuck a ground ball right in between CJ Abrams and Nasim Nunez. Luckily, it did not have enough on it to get into the outfield. That led to only one run scoring. Beeter got the next batter to fly out and we were on to extras.
In the first two extra inning games of the season, the Nats did not look good. That trend looked to be continuing when the Nats made two quick outs. However, Don Kelly played with fire by pitching to James Wood and he got burned. Wood drilled a breaking ball through the hole and ghost runner Jorbit Vivas came around to score.
It did not feel like that would be enough, but it was. That was due to a heroic effort by Orlando Ribalta. After allowing an infield hit to start the inning, the big righty locked in. He got a strikeout of Bryan Reynolds and then he induced a game-ending double play to Jake Mangum.
The big righty got his first career save and the Nats ended their road trip going 5-2. After the game, the Nats put out a bunch of neat stats. I am sure he would have preferred the save, but Clayton Beeter also got his first win.
As they head back to DC, the boys are riding high. They have a chance to get back to .500 with a win tomorrow. This was such a fun and gutsy road trip. While this team has some major flaws, most notably the pitching staff, they are still very exciting to watch. It was not pretty, but the Nats pulled one out, and that was a huge win for the boys.
