Nationals ease past Pirates 6-2
CJ Abrams homered twice, Patrick Corbin pitched into the seventh inning and the Washington Nationals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 6-2 on Monday night.
Abrams hit a two-run shot to right-center against Andre Jackson (1-3) in the third inning. He drove a fastball from Cody Bolton over the 21-foot-high Clemente Wall in right in the seventh for his first career multihomer game.
Corbin allowed two runs and five hits in 6 2/3 innings to reach 10 wins for the first time since 2019. The 34-year-old Corbin (10-13) struck out eight and walked one, bouncing back after allowing 14 runs combined over his previous two starts.
Dominic Smith had two hits, including his eighth homer of the season. Keibert Ruiz and Ildemaro Vargas added two hits apiece for the Nationals, who won for just the third time in 11 games.
Bryan Reynolds had an RBI single for Pittsburgh, which lost for the third time in four games. Ji Hwan Bae added an RBI double. Jared Triolo had a hit and made a couple of solid plays defensively in his first major league start at first base.
Pirates third baseman Ke'Bryan Hayes went 0 for 4 at the plate a day after posting on X that he was ready for MLB to move to robot umpires following a frustrating loss to Atlanta.
Jackson, who moved into Pittsburgh's rotation last month not long after coming over from the Los Angeles Dodgers, gave up four runs in four innings. The 27-year-old retired his first six hitters before Washington started to zero in.
Abrams, who sat out Sunday's loss to the Dodgers to rest a knee he tweaked while sliding into second base on Saturday, deposited an 86 mph changeup from Jackson onto the concourse with two outs in the third to put the Nationals in front 2-0.
Ruiz doubled leading off the fourth and scored on a sharp single by Joey Meneses. Meneses came around to score when Luis Garcia beat out a potential double-play ball that would have ended the inning.
Corbin, one of the few remnants of rebuilding Washington's 2019 World Series team, has been uneven at best for most of the last three-plus years. The veteran left-hander has mixed good starts with meh ones with equal measure.
He allowed three runs or less in four straight starts between Aug. 4-24 but took the mound at PNC Park having been pounded recently by Toronto (six runs, five innings) and the New York Mets (eight runs, four innings).
Pittsburgh relies more on stringing base hits together to produce offense. There was little to come by against Corbin.
The Pirates only put together one extended rally. Triolo led off the third with an infield hit and scored on a two-out single by Reynolds. Reynolds advanced to second on a wild pitch and then stole third base after Connor Joe walked. Reynolds, however, was thrown out at home while trying to score when Joe found himself in a rundown between first and second.
Reynolds briefly tried to juke his way around Ruiz at the plate. It didn't work. The inning ended with Washington still up a run and when the Nationals extended the lead in the top of the fourth, they were on their way.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Nationals: C Riley Adams underwent surgery to repair a fractured hamate bone in his left wrist.
UP NEXT
The series continues on Tuesday. Joan Adon (2-1, 5.56 ERA) starts for the Nationals. Adon has taken a no-hitter into the sixth inning in each of his two previous road starts.