Pirates drop exciting back-and-forth game to Nats; miscues prove costly

This article originally appeared on PGHBaseballNOW.

The Pittsburgh Pirates battled with the Washington Nationals, but too many miscues proved insurmountable in an 8-7 loss in 10 innings at PNC Park on Thursday afternoon.

Scoring Plays

Top 5th, 4-0 WSH: With the bases loaded and one out, Luis García Jr. hit a slow grounder to shortstop Konnor Griffin. Nasim Nuñez won a foot race to second base and Griffin spiked a throw towards first, which allowed two more runs to score. Later in the inning, García broke from second to third base and Ashcraft threw behind him in a pickoff attempt, but the throw ended up in center field. García trotted in to score the fourth run of the inning.

Bottom 5th, 4-4: The Pirates (11-8) immediately responded with four runs off Nats starter Foster Griffin. Oneil Cruz plated Billy Cook with a 119 mph rocketed double to right field. Marcell Ozuna followed with a towering three-run shot to left field that hit the rotunda.

Top 6th, 5-4 WSH: The Nationals (9-10) reclaimed the lead when Joey Wiemer hit a pinch-hit RBI double off Evan Sisk to right field. The ball was just out of reach of the diving Jake Mangum, whose throw went towards second base.

Bottom 6th, 6-5 PIT: Konnor Griffin tied the game with an RBI triple high off the wall in center off Paxton Schultz. Later in the inning, Nick Gonzales plated the go-ahead run with an RBI single to right field off PJ Poulin but was thrown out trying to advance to second base to end the inning.

Top 7th, 7-6 WSH: After the Pirates intentionally walked CJ Abrams to load the bases, Yohan Ramírez hit Jacob Young to force across the tying run. Ramírez then threw a wild pitch to give the Nationals the lead after Daylen Lile scored from third.

Bottom 9th, 7-7: Down to their last strike, the Pirates tied the game off Gus Varland when Brandon Lowe reached on an infield single with the bases loaded.

Top 10th, 8-7: With two outs, James Wood singled home automatic runner Jorbit Vivas against Dennis Santana (2-1) to put the Nationals ahead for good.

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