Pirates drop exciting back-and-forth game to Nats; miscues prove costly
This article originally appeared on PGHBaseballNOW . The Pittsburgh Pirates battled with the Washington Nationals, but too many miscues proved insurmountable in an 8-7 loss in 10 innings at PNC Park on Thursday afternoon. Scoring Plays Top 5th, 4-0 WSH: With the bases loaded and one out, Luis García Jr.
hit a slow grounder to shortstop Konnor Griffin. Nasim Nuñez won a foot race to second base and Griffin spiked a throw towards first, which allowed two more runs to score. Later in the inning, García broke from second to third base and Ashcraft threw behind him in a pickoff attempt, but the throw ended up in center field.
García trotted in to score the fourth run of the inning. Bottom 5th, 4-4: The Pirates (11-8) immediately responded with four runs off Nats starter Foster Griffin. Oneil Cruz plated Billy Cook with a 119 mph rocketed double to right field.
Marcell Ozuna followed with a towering three-run shot to left field that hit the rotunda. Top 6th, 5-4 WSH: The Nationals (9-10) reclaimed the lead when Joey Wiemer hit a pinch-hit RBI double off Evan Sisk to right field. The ball was just out of reach of the diving Jake Mangum, whose throw went towards second base.
Bottom 6th, 6-5 PIT: Konnor Griffin tied the game with an RBI triple high off the wall in center off Paxton Schultz. Later in the inning, Nick Gonzales plated the go-ahead run with an RBI single to right field off PJ Poulin but was thrown out trying to advance to second base to end the inning. Trip-Trip-Triple for Konnor!