GAME THREAD: GAME THREAD: NL: PITTSBURGH (24-33) at WASHINGTON (23-34)

Nady delivers as Pirates win road trip opener

<h3>PITTSBURGH 7, WASHINGTON 6</h3>WASHINGTON (Ticker) -- Xavier Nady delivered a bases-loadeddouble in a five-run third inning and Freddy Sanchez contributedtwo hits as the Pittsburgh Pirates posted a 7-6 victory overthe Washington Nationals on Tuesday.

Jack Wilson and Ronny Paulino homered for the Pirates, whoopened a six-game road trip with a win after competing adisappointing 2-5 homestand.

After Jose Bautista and Jason Bay sandwiched walks around an RBIsingle to Sanchez, Nady followed with a drive to deep centerfield that provided Pittsburgh a 4-2 lead against Washingtonstarter Mike Bacsik (1-2).

Nady, who entered batting .333 (17-for-51) with runners inscoring position and .338 overall in his previous 17 games, is4-for-6 with eight RBI with the bases loaded this season.

Nady added a sacrifice fly in the fifth for a 6-2 edge. AfterBautista singled with one out, Sanchez doubled him to third andNady brought him home.

The offensive support was enough for Pittsburgh starter ShawnChacon (2-0), who yielded four runs and eight hits in 5 1/3frames. A likely July trade-deadline target, Chacon was comingoff seven scoreless innings with 10 strikeouts against San Diegoon Thursday in his last outing.

Wilson got Pittsburgh on the board with his third homer of theseason in the third inning. Paulino provided Pittsburgh aseemingly comfortable 7-2 edge with his fifth blast in the sixthoff reliever Winston Abreu.

But Washington rallied with three runs in the sixth on an RBIsingle by Tony Batista, an RBI double by Felipe Lopez whenBatista was thrown out at the plate on a very close call, and anRBI triple by Cristian Guzman. But Jonah Bayliss entered andgot Ryan Zimmerman on a popout to escape.

Washington cut its deficit to 7-6 in the seventh on arun-scoring groundout by Brian Schneider, but John Grabow struckout Ryan Langerhans with a runner on second to escape.

Salomon Torres logged a perfect eighth and new closer Matt Cappsworked a 1-2-3 ninth for his second save in three chances.

Bacsik (1-2) lasted just 4 1/3 innings, yielding six runs, sixhits and five walks. The lefthander allowed just three walkscombined in his first three starts covering 19 2/3 innings.

The Nationals were helped by four double plays - one shy of theMontreal-Washington franchise record.

 

Nady delivers as Pirates win road trip opener

<h3>PITTSBURGH 7, WASHINGTON 6</h3>WASHINGTON (Ticker) -- Perhaps the Pittsburgh Pirates arebetter off away from PNC Park.

Xavier Nady delivered a bases-loaded double in a five-run thirdinning and Freddy Sanchez contributed two hits as the Piratesposted a 7-6 victory over the Washington Nationals on Tuesday.

Jack Wilson and Ronny Paulino homered for the Pirates, whoopened a six-game road trip with a win after competing adisappointing 2-5 homestand.

"We've had some tough losses, some extremely tough losses,"Pittsburgh manager Jim Tracy said. "Lost a tough game onThursday to the Padres (led 2-0 in the ninth). Lost three timesto the Dodgers by a run. I think tonight was our 14th win onthe road (14-14). We are a much better team on the road than inany stretch last year."

After Jose Bautista and Jason Bay sandwiched walks around an RBIsingle to Sanchez, Nady followed with a drive to deep centerfield that provided Pittsburgh a 4-2 lead against Washingtonstarter Mike Bacsik (1-2).

"I came up and got the timely hit, but you got to give credit tothe guys before me," Nady said. "We needed that to kind of giveus a little lead, a little cushion, because we had beenscuffling when we've had the opportunities. It was nice, helped(starter Shawn) Chacon relax a little bit, and go from there."

Nady, who entered batting .333 (17-for-51) with runners inscoring position and .338 overall in his previous 17 games, is4-for-6 with eight RBI with the bases loaded this season.

Nady added a sacrifice fly in the fifth for a 6-2 edge. AfterBautista singled with one out, Sanchez doubled him to third andNady brought him home.

The offensive support was enough for Pittsburgh starter ShawnChacon (2-0), who yielded four runs and eight hits in 5 1/3frames. A likely July trade-deadline target, Chacon was comingoff seven scoreless innings with 10 strikeouts against San Diegoon Thursday in his last outing.

Wilson got Pittsburgh on the board with his third homer of theseason in the third inning. Paulino provided Pittsburgh aseemingly comfortable 7-2 edge with his fifth blast in the sixthoff reliever Winston Abreu.

But Washington rallied with three runs in the sixth, startingwith an RBI single by Tony Batista. Felipe Lopez followed withan RBI double scoring Ryan Langerhans, but Batista, trying toscore from first, ran through a stop sign from third base coachTim Tolman and was thrown out at the plate on a very close call.

"I see it (stop sign), but on that kind of base hit, you try toscore from first base," said Batista, who added that he saw thesign late. "That's what I tried to do. I think I was safe, eventhough the umpire called me out."

That proved to be a big out as Cristian Guzman followed with atriple, scoring Lopez.

"You can't be aggressive until you get the tying run to homeplate," Tolman said.

Pirates reliever Jonah Bayliss entered and got Ryan Zimmerman ona popout to escape.

"It hurt us, obviously," Nationals manager Manny Acta said."Those are the type of things that we can't afford. We can'tafford to be making those type of mistakes. We were down byfour runs."

Washington cut its deficit to 7-6 in the seventh on arun-scoring groundout by Brian Schneider, but John Grabow struckout Ryan Langerhans with a runner on second to escape.

Salomon Torres logged a perfect eighth and new closer Matt Cappsworked a 1-2-3 ninth for his second save in three chances.

"We got a very competitive effort again from Shawn Chacon," saidPirates manager Jim Tracy. "We bend a little bit bullpen wisein the sixth and seventh inning, but we got the outs with theguys that we used that was necessary to get us to the back endand our two guys in the eighth and ninth inning were terrific.

Bacsik (1-2) lasted just 4 1/3 innings, yielding six runs, sixhits and five walks while dealing with a stomach ache thatbothered him from the start. The lefthander allowed just threewalks combined in his first three starts covering 19 2/3innings.

"If I just go out and give us a halfway decent effort, we getthe win," Bacsik said. I was just physically fighting throughnot feeling good, so energy and focus were just lacking. I feellike I'm making an excuse and I don't want to be. I took theball. I said I was good enough to go, and I went out there andI didn't do a good job."

The Nationals were helped by four double plays - one shy of theMontreal-Washington franchise record.