Pirates blow 3-run lead, fall short in 9th against Nationals for 7th consecutive loss

Mitch Keller was cruising through his start so efficiently that play-by-play man Greg Brown dubbed the Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander “10-pitch Mitch” after he required only 51 pitches to navigate five innings.

Then the Washington Nationals scratched an itch.

After Keller allowed three hits in the sixth, including a leadoff home run, Pirates manager Don Kelly pulled his starter after one out and only 62 pitches and turned to the bullpen.

It proved to be a disastrous decision, as the Pirates surrendered six runs to the Washington Nationals over the sixth and seventh innings. The Pirates rallied to within one run in the ninth inning, but their rally fell short when Alexander Canario was thrown out at home plate by James Wood in a 6-5 loss Friday night in the series opener at Nationals Park.

It was the seventh consecutive loss for the Pirates and their fourth consecutive loss by one run. The Pirates have had 56 games decided by one run this season, the most in the major leagues, but have won only 24.

“When you’ve gone through a six-game losing streak, to be down by three going into the ninth against their closer, the fight to have the chance to score, it’s frustrating when you’re losing seven in a row, especially four by one run,” Kelly said on the SportsNet Pittsburgh postgame show. “I just like the fight by the guys to finish it strong, though.”

The Pirates built a 3-0 lead by the fifth inning. Jared Triolo led off the third with a book-rule double that bounced over the fence in left-center, advanced to third on a Spencer Horwitz single and scored when Bryan Reynolds hit a sharp grounder to left to give the Pirates a 1-0 lead.

Nationals right fielder Dylan Crews prevented the Pirates from extending their lead when he robbed Ji Hwan Bae of an extra-base hit by making a leaping catch against the wall to end the fourth inning.

In the fifth, Triolo hit a two-strike single to right and Horwitz followed by crushing Brad Lord’s full-count changeup 375 feet into the Nationals bullpen in right field to give the Pirates a 3-0 lead.

Keller held the Nationals to one hit and one walk through the first five innings, but Brady House sent his first-pitch slider 402 feet to right-center for his fourth home run to lead off the sixth and trim it to 3-1.

After striking out Robert Hassell III, Keller gave up a single to CJ Abrams and a double to Wood before he was lifted by Kelly with two runners in scoring position. Keller was surprised to get the early hook

“Yeah, obviously, as a competitor you want to stay out there,” Keller said. “But they had a full lefty lineup. The home run to lead off the inning didn’t help my case. I wish I could go nine every game. I just want to be out there.”

Kelly called it a “situational” decision, citing switch-hitting Josh Bell batting 6 for 12 against Keller coming in and hitting a fly ball to the warning track in center in the fourth.

“(Keller) had been really efficient then gave up the homer, strikeout and the two solid contacts and Bell had really good success off him in the past, 6 for 12 coming into today and a really good at-bat,” Kelly said. “He doesn’t hit lefties well, so we felt like it was a good time to bring in (Evan) Sisk and flip Bell around a little bit.”

The left-handed Sisk got Bell to hit a dribbler that caught Abrams between third and home, where he was tagged out by catcher Henry Davis. The Pirates got a break when Wood didn’t advance to third, but Sisk walked Daylen Lile on four pitches to load the bases. A Sisk wild pitch allowed Wood to score to cut it to 3-2 and Bell and Lile to advance. But Sisk recovered to strike out Luis Garcia Jr. to end the inning.

The Nationals took the lead in the seventh against Kyle Nicolas, who walked leadoff batter Riley Adams before Crews hit a line drive 407 feet to right-center for his ninth homer and a 4-3 lead. Nicolas gave up a single to Hassell and a double to Wood before getting pulled for Dauri Moreta, only for Bell to hit a two-run single up the middle that skipped off Oneil Cruz’s glove for an error.

After Horwitz’s homer, seven of the next 11 batters struck out (three looking). The Pirates didn’t get another hit until the ninth inning, when Nick Gonzales hit a leadoff double off lefty Jose A. Ferrer and scored on pinch hitter Nick Yorke’s RBI single to right to cut it to 6-4.

Canario drew a one-out, full-count walk to put runners on first and second, and a passed ball by catcher Jorge Alfaro put both in scoring position. Joey Bart’s pinch-hit single to right scored Yorke to bring the Pirates within one run but Wood threw Canario out at home plate to preserve the lead. Triolo flied out to right to end the game.

“We’ve got to do a better job with runners in scoring position,” Horwitz said. “In baseball, the little things are the big things so we’ve got to do everything the right way and keep working every day to get better.”