North Shore Nine

Your Pittsburgh Pirates move to 5-0 on the season after a 8-3 victory over the Washington Nationals today, first time since 1983. Once again solid pitching and timely hitting played a bit part in the Bucco’s victory.
Marco Gonzales once again pitched well, giving up one earned run over five innings, walking two and striking two out. He was followed by a good inning from Roansy Contreras who pitched a perfect inning with two strike outs.
On the offensive side a pair of sacrifices by Michael A. Taylor and Bryan Reynolds gave the Pirates their 2-0 lead. Connor Joe increased the lead to 3-1 in the Top of the 6th with an RBI single. Though in Contreras’s 2nd inning left something to be desired as he gave up a 2-run homerun to tie the game going into the 8th
However, in the top of the 8th the Pirates added a trio of runs. Joe doubled adding a RBI to his season total, Hayes added one on another double and McCutchen added one on a single, making the score 6-3.
Ryder Ryan came on to pitch the 8th, throwing a perfect frame for the Pirates. In the top of the 9th, Reynolds doubled with the bases loaded scoring a pair and giving the Pirates a 8-3 lead. However, the Pirates were unable to further add to the lead with a groundout and a flyout. Ryan stayed on to pitch the bottom of the ninth. A single and a walk to to start the inning spelled trouble for the Pirates. However, a stikeout, a lineout led to two outs, thouhg a single to score a run to make it 8-4 Pirates. This led to the Pirates bringing in Aroldis Chapman to finish the game, he got a quick out and earned the save to bring the Pirates to 5-0.

The Pirates return to action Wednesday against the Nationals. The game will be at 6:45 PM at Nationals Park in Washington, DC. Mitch Keller will pitch for the Pirates with Trevor Williams going for the Nationals.