Luis Garcia Jr. and Daylen Lile each belted two home runs to lead the Washington Nationals to a 9-5 home win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday.
Lile also doubled and drove in four runs and Garcia had three RBIs. Jose Tena hit a two-run homer and James Wood had a double, a triple and scored a run for Washington.
Bryan Reynolds doubled, homered and drove in two runs while Esmerlyn Valdez was 3-for-5 with a double and an RBI for the Pirates.
With one out in the first, Garcia lined his 17th homer of the season to right field.
An inning later, Lile hit a solo shot to center, giving the Nationals a 2-0 lead.
In the third, Reynolds homered with two outs on a 2-0 count to trim the Nationals’ lead to 2-1.
Washington answered in the bottom of the inning, extending its lead to 5-1. Wood led off with a triple into the right field corner and scored on Tena’s two-run bomb.
CJ Abrams followed with a single, and after Dylan Crews lined out, stole second. Lile’s RBI double knocked in Abrams.
Jake Mangum’s two-out liner in the fourth knocked off Washington starter Foster Griffin’s glove. But second baseman Nasim Nunez charged in, barehanded the ball and threw out Mangum with a sidearm toss to first.
The Pirates loaded the bases in the seventh. After Jared Triolo doubled with two outs and stole third, Konnor Griffin and Brandon Lowe drew walks off reliever Justin Lawrence. The Nationals brought in Clayton Beeter from the bullpen, and he struck out Reynolds to escape the jam.
In the bottom of the seventh, Garcia made it 7-1 with his 18th homer of the season, a two-run blast to right.
Lile stretched Washington’s lead to 9-1 with his second homer of the game, a two-run blast in the eighth.
Lowe, Reynolds, Valdez and Nick Gonzales each drove in a run with doubles in the ninth for Pittsburgh.
Griffin (9-2) allowed one run on four hits while walking one and fanning two in five innings for Washington.
Pirates starter Mitch Keller (6-6) yielded five runs on eight hits over six innings. He walked none and struck out one.
–Field Level Media
