The Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the Washington Nationals 4-1 last night at PNC Park. Starling Marte hit a three-run home run in the eighth inning which decided the game. Closer Felipe Vazquez earned a four-out victory.
Marte is batting .317 in the second half of this season with 10 home runs, 28 Runs Batted In and 31 runs scored.
Starting pitcher Chris Archer left the game prior to the second inning with right shoulder discomfort. Archer left the game after five warm-up pitches entering that inning. He will have an MRI today.
Rookie outfielder Bryan Reynolds went 0-for-3 last night with an RBI. He is now batting .323 this season. He has fallen ten points behind Milwaukee outfielder Chrisitan Yelich in the National League batting race.
The Bucs and Nationals play again tonight at 7:05pm. Joe Musgrove will go to the mound for the Pirates. WISR pre-game is 6:40pm.
A check on former Pirates:
–Outfielder Austin Meadows is batting .277 for the Tampa Bay Rays. He drove in two runs last night, and now has 60 for the season, to go with 20 home runs.
–Outfielder Corey Dickerson was hitless last night for the Philadelphia Phillies with two strikeouts. He left the Pirates at the trade deadline batting almost .300, but has fallen to .240 with the Phillies.
–Shortstop Jordy Mercer had two singles last night fo rhte Detroit Tigers and is batting .256 this season.
–Tyler Glasnow remains on the 60-Day Injured List with Tampa Bay. Josh Harrison was released by Detroit in the last month.
–Ivan Nova has been hot lately for the Chicago White Sox. He is 9-9 this season with a 4.47 ERA. He has allowed three earned runs over his past three starts, including a complete game. He is a free agent at the end of the season.
Little League World Series:
–New Jersey defeated Rhode Island 2-0 in an elimination game Tuesday. New Jersey will meet the loser of tonight’s game between Hawaii and Virginia Thursday. Tonight’s winner will go to the United States championship game this weekend.
–Curacao eliminated Venezuela to reach the International semifinal round.
–Oregon topped Italy 4-3 in a consolation game.