The Pittsburgh Pirates were able to take two out of three games against the Washington Nationals as they won 7-5 on Thursday afternoon.  The Pirates were able to put a lot of pressure on the Nationals early in the game and knocked Nationals starting pitcher Jason Bergmann out after just a little over four innings pitched.

Ryan Doumit hit his ninth home run of the season in the first inning to give the Pirates a 2-0 lead.  Doumit ended up leading the Pirates at the plate with three rbi.  After Doumit’s three rbi, four different Pirates players had one rbi in the game.  Nate McLouth, Jason Bay, Tom Gorzelanny, and Jason Michaels all had one rbi in the game.

Gorzelanny ended up getting the victory (his fifth) after throwing 5 2/3 innings.  Gorzelanny gave up six hits and thre runs while striking out six batters and walking three.  Not too bad of an outing, but it would have been nice to see him throw longer in the game and cut down on the walks.

One cause of concern would be the Pirates Bullpen as they gave up five hits and two runs.  Sean Burnett pitched 1/3 of an inning and allowed two hits and one run.  Franquelis Osoria then pitched 1 2/3 innings as he gave up another run.  Tyler Yates and Damaso Marte were finally able to pitch without giving up a run.

The Pirates will now travel down to Baltimore to take on the Orioles in a three game weekend series that begins on Friday.  Orioles Blog