PITTSBURGH (AP) — Oneil Cruz hit his first career grand slam to help Bailey Falter and the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Washington Nationals 6-1 on Wednesday night.
Henry Davis also connected for Pittsburgh, which had dropped four of five. Isiah Kiner-Falefa had two hits and scored run.
Falter (1-2) allowed two hits in seven scoreless innings. It was the 10th time this season that a Pirates starter went six innings or more — tops in the majors.
Washington wasted a sharp performance by Mitchell Parker (2-1), who tossed six innings of one-run ball. The Nationals scored their only run on Alex Call’s sacrifice fly in the ninth.
Pittsburgh jumped in front on Davis’ first homer of the season — a solo shot off the foul pole in left in the fifth.
The Pirates made it 2-0 on a broken-bat groundout by Davis in the seventh, driving in Enmanuel Valdez. Third baseman Amed Rosario had to avoid Davis’ bat flying at him before he made a play to first.
after a pitch by Jorge López went near Andrew McCutchen’s head. López, who also hit Bryan Reynolds, was ejected.
Cruz’s third homer of the season gave Pittsburgh a six-run lead.
Key moment
There was a weird play in the bottom of the sixth. Tommy Pham hit a liner to left that was trapped by James Wood on a hop. Cruz went back to first not realizing what had happened, and Pham stopped running before reaching the base. Following a review, Cruz was safe and Pham was out.
Key stat
Washington finished with three hits.
Up next
Nationals right-hander Trevor Williams (1-1, 7.36 ERA) faces Pirates left-hander Andrew Heaney (0-1, 3.00 ERA) on Thursday.
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