Saturday night's 7-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates is a game the Washington Nationals are going to want to quickly forget. Everything that could go wrong in a baseball game pretty much did for the Nats at PNC Park. From falling behind in the first-inning to multiple errors to questionable umpiring calls, the Nationals couldn't put anything together and the Pirates quickly swarmed and took control of the game.
Nationals starter Livan Hernandez pitched in his 450th game and went six-innings, but his undoing came early in the game as the Bucs were able to score five runs in the first-inning and then added a sixth in the second without Hernandez even giving up a hit. The Nationals defense collected three errors, two from Ian Desmond and one from catcher Wilson Ramos while outfielder Jayson Werth too had trouble at his position, if only briefly, but it was enough for the Bucs to capitalize on and extend innings.
In the bottom of the sixth a questionable call by the umpire led to a run when Andrew McCutchen went to steal second. McCutchen slid into a the glove of a waiting second baseman Danny Espinosa who already had the ball firmly in his leather, but the umpire called McCutchen safe. Two batters later Lyle Overbay singled him in for the Pirates final run of the night.
The inconsistent Nationals offense once again entered a cold spell. While recording six hits, they couldn't string anything together against Pirates pitcher Jeff Karstens. The only runs of the game from a second-inning RBI single from Michael Morse and a fourth-inning solo home run from Werth.
The Nationals fall below .500 and to a 9-10 record.