It was looking to be a stormy night for the Washington Nationals against the Pittsburgh Pirates, but starter John Lannan settled the seas and the Nationals' second baseman delivered a decisive cannon blast to lead the Nationals to a 4-2 victory on Monday night.
Lannan started the night out rough giving up a run in the first-inning to put the Pirates in an early lead and at one point the Bucs had seven hits while the Nationals could only accumulate two. Four walks also caused Lannan some problems, but he was able to get through innings and the outs he needed to limit the damage and end the night with six-innings of seven hit, two run ball under his belt with four strikeouts.
The game was tied 2-2 in the bottom of the seventh when Danny Espinosa jacked a massive two-run home run deep into the Nationals right field bullpen off Pirates reliever Jose Ascanio for the win. Reliever Drew Storen came in during the ninth to shut the door on the Pirates and earn his ninth save in nine tries. Recently called up reliever Cole Kimball had a blown save, but also earned the first Major League win of his career.
The Nationals once again pull themselves out of the cellar and back into fourth place in the NL East with a 20-21 record and have won two games in a row.