Adam Eaton hit his first homer of the season and Howie Kendrick also added a blast with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning as the Washington Nationals rallied to beat the visiting Pittsburgh Pirates 3-2 on Saturday.
Eaton (three hits) and Kendrick went back-to-back against Richard Rodriguez (0-1), who took over for starter Chris Archer.
The winning pitcher was Wander Suero (1-0), who pitched a scoreless eighth, while Sean Doolittle got the save despite allowing two baserunners in the ninth.
Melky Cabrera hit a solo homer off Washington starter Anibal Sanchez in the sixth to break a 1-1 tie.
The homer came on an 0-2 pitch from Sanchez after Washington reliever Justin Miller gave up a three-run homer in the 10th on Friday on an 0-2 pitch to pinch hitter Colin Moran. Since the start of the 2018 season, the Nationals have allowed 17 homers on 0-2 pitches, according to Mid-Atlantic Sports Network.
The Nationals had tied the game at 1-1 in the last of the fourth as Anthony Rendon led off with a double and scored on a two-out single by Kurt Suzuki.
The double gave Rendon a career-high hitting streak of 12 games. He also has an extra-base hit 10 straight games, a Nationals franchise record. Rendon is hitting .412 with six homers and 16 RBIs.
Josh Bell of the Pirates tripled in the top of the fourth when left fielder Juan Soto couldn't come up with his liner. Moran then followed with an RBI double for a 1-0 lead.
Sanchez went seven innings and allowed two runs on seven hits with two strikeouts and a walk. He threw 100 pitches -- 63 for strikes.
Archer gave up just one run on four hits with nine strikeouts in seven innings against the Nationals.
Archer is appealing his suspension for his involvement in a fight with the Cincinnati Reds on April 7. Archer made his big-league debut in 2012 at Nationals Park while with Tampa Bay.
Matt Adams of the Nationals hit the first-base bag awkwardly when he grounded out to start the last of the seventh. He walked back slowly to the dugout and Ryan Zimmerman came on to play first for Adams in the top of the eighth.
--Field Level Media
Pittsburgh | Washington | |
Chris Archer | Player | Anibal Sanchez |
No Decision | W/L | No Decision |
7.0 | IP | 7.0 |
9 | Strikeouts | 2 |
4 | Hits | 7 |
1.29 | ERA | 2.57 |
Pittsburgh | Washington | |
Melky Cabrera | Player | Adam Eaton |
3 | Hits | 3 |
1 | RBI | 1 |
1 | HR | 1 |
6 | TB | 6 |
.750 | Avg | .750 |
Team | Hits | HR | TB | Avg | LOB | K | RBI | BB | SB | Errors |
Pittsburgh | 8 | 1 | 15 | .235 | 16 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
Washington | 6 | 2 | 13 | .214 | 8 | 10 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 |