Pirates Rally Late to Defeat Nationals

While the Pirates offense struggled, Chandler dominated for the Pirates on just his second MLB start, throwing five perfect innings, with six strikeouts, including striking out the side in the bottom of the fourth inning.

This was in contrast to his first MLB start, where he gave up nine earned runs over 2.2 innings pitched in the 10-2 loss to the Brewers at PNC Park on Sept. 7.

Nationals left-handed starting pitcher Andrew Alvarez also had a strong outing, giving up just three hits and a walk over six innings, while posting five strikeouts over 85 pitches.

Chandler saw his quest for a perfect game end, as he gave up a leadoff single to Nationals right fielder Dylan Crews.

He got third baseman Brady House to fly out, moving Crews to second base, but then gave up another single to center fielder Robert Hassell III, scoring Crews and putting the Nationals up 1-0.

Hassell then stole second base, moved to third base on a ground out from Abrams, but Chandler ended the inning by striking out Nationals left fielder James Wood.

Chandler finished his outing with just two hits and a run allowed over six innings, posting seven strikeouts over 81 pitches, earning his first quality start.

The Pirates struggled offensively all game, with just three hits over seven innings and needed to get something going late on if they wanted to win it.

Spencer Horwitz came on as a pinch-hitter and walked to leadoff the top of the eighth inning, then Liover Peguero took over as a pinch-runner.

Triolo grounded out, moving Peguero to second base, Pham walked and Reynolds singled, loading the bases for the Pirates, then Gonzales popped out for the second out of the inning.

Designated hitter Andrew McCutchen came through for the Pirates with a single, scoring both Peguero and Pham to give the road team a 2-1 lead.

Center fielder Oneil Cruz walked, loading the bases again for the Pirates, then Yorke hit a single, scoring both Reynolds and McCutchen to extend his team's lead to 4-1.

Right-handed pitcher Carmen Mlodzinski threw two scoreless innings of relief for the Pirates, keeping them in the lead late.

Triolo added onto the Pirates' lead in the top of the ninth inning, hitting a fastball 409 feet into the left field seats for a solo home run to make it 5-1.

This marked Triolo's sixth home run of the season and first of September, last hitting a home run in the 5-1 win over the Colorado Rockies in the series finale at PNC Park on Aug. 24.

Pirates right-handed relief pitcher Dennis Santana then threw a scoreless ninth inning and secured a victory for his team.

The Pirates also secured the season series over the Nationals, improving to 5-2, after winning three of four games over them, April 14-17 at PNC Park.