Pirates rally in 9th, Hayes hits winning single against Nationals

Ke’Bryan Hayes has accomplished quite a bit since making his major league debut with the Pittsburgh Pirates a little more than a year ago.

The rookie third baseman added something else to his list Friday night.

Hayes had his first career walk-off RBI, a single down the right-field line with two outs that capped a two-run ninth inning and rallied the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 4-3 victory over the Washington Nationals.

“Oh man that was pretty cool,” Hayes said with a smile. “I think the last walk-off hit I had was my senior year in high school if I recall correctly. I wasn’t trying to do too much in that situation because it was only going to take a single to win the game, so I wanted to hit it low and hard.

“I don’t ever try to intentionally hit the ball to right field. I just try to get balls elevated over the middle of the plate and hit them hard. Center field, left field, right field, I can’t control the ball once it leaves my bat. I just try to hit the ball and wherever it goes it goes.”

With the Pirates trailing 3-2, Anthony Alford started the rally by grounding a single into right field off rookie Patrick Murphy. Alford moved to second on a wild pitch, Ben Gamel walked then the runners advanced to second and third on Murphy’s second wild pitch.

Murphy (0-2), seeking his first career save, got Cole Tucker to pop out to shortstop. Nationals manager Davey Martinez then called on rookie left-hander Alberto Baldonado to face left-handed pinch hitter Colin Moran.

Moran grounded out to shortstop on a ball hit softly enough to allow Alford to score the tying run and Gamel to move to third. Hayes then delivered the winning single.

Pirates starting pitcher Steven Brault exited after two innings with left arm discomfort.

Brault allowed two runs and two hits. He also walked two, struck out one and did not show any visible sign of an injury while on the mound.

“He just said he tightened up,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “As soon as he said that, I said, ‘You’re done.’ We’re not going to play around with that.”

However, Cody Ponce replaced Brault to begin the third inning. The rookie right-hander went on to pitch three hitless and scoreless innings.

In all, four relievers combined to allow only one run in seven innings following Brault’s shortened outing. Chad Kuhl (5-6) pitched a scoreless ninth for the win.

“Tonight, my job was to go as long as I could and save the bullpen as many innings as possible,” Ponce said.

Josh Bell hit a home run for the Nationals in his return to PNC Park. The big switch-hitting first baseman connected on a 429-foot solo shot to center field off Sam Howard in the sixth inning that put the Nationals on top 3-1.

Bell spent the first five seasons of his career with the Pirates before being traded on Christmas Eve. He received a warm ovation when he came to bat for the first time in the second inning and a video tribute also was played on the scoreboard.

Bell went 1 for 2 with a walk and two strikeouts in addition to hitting his 26th home run of the year.

“It was cool to see Josh,” Hayes said. “He’s a great person and a great teammate. I’ve never heard anyone say a bad word about him.”

The Pirates (51-90) are 3-1 on their six-game homestand after also taking two of three from the Detroit Tigers earlier in the week. That comes on the heels of an 0-6 trip to Chicago last week.

Hayes and Alford had two of the Pirates’ 10 hits each. Hayes also had two RBIs.

Through the first eight innings, the Pirates hit into two double plays, went 0 for 4 with runners in scoring position and left seven runners on base.

Alford hit his fifth home run of the season to lead off the seventh inning and draw the Pirates within a run.

The Nationals scored twice in the second to open the scoring. Riley Adams’ RBI triple eluded a diving Alford in left field. Adams then scored on Lane Thomas’ single.

The Pirates halved their deficit in the third when Tucker led off with a double and scored on a sacrifice fly by Hayes.