J-Bell Ties It Late But Nats Rally To Walk It Off A 5-4 Win

The Bucs got a single and GIDP off Edwin Jackson in the first while the Nats got a double, walk, single and wild pitch but only a run off Ivan Nova.  The second went quietly with the Nats leaving a couple more runners on. Mad Max walked with an out in the third and Ivan got clunked in the hand trying to bunt. Steven Brault finished the at bat and then Chris Bostick and Starling went to work. Bo doubled in Max and Marte chased Bo home. Then Tyler Glasnow took the hill. He gave up a couple walks, one after being up 0-2, and a rap to tie the game. The Bucs spun their wheels. Glasnow tossed a quiet fourth, gave up a couple of hits but no runs in the fifth and was pulled after three walks in the sixth to set up a Victor Robles v Edgar Santana two-out, bases-filled duel. Santana won, getting a swinging K.

Edgar Santana came in to get a big whiff (photo Pittsburgh Pirates)

Brandon Kintzler took the hill for Jackson and tossed a clean seventh. Dovydas Neverauskas didn't for Pittsburgh - a walk and triple put the Nats up and Jack Leathersich came in to give up a sac fly to make it 4-2. Ryan Madson tossed a clean eighth as did Johnny Barbato. Sean Doolittle took the ball but couldn't nail the coffin shut after Cutch singled to greet him and J-Bell launched a tying blast. Daniel Hudson got the call and three consecutive singles made Bell's bomb moot.

Santana and Barbato scored some points tonight; Glasnow and Dovy didn't. Unfortunately, none of the young hitters look ready; Osuna, Diaz, Moroff, Luplow and Stalling are all hitting < .235; only Bostick, with 25 at-bats, has a decent (.285) BA. September means something to them - and to the FO, who has some work to do on the roster between now and April.

Tyler still needs a GPS to find the dish (photo Pittsburgh Pirates)

Notes:

• Starling stayed on fire with two raps; no other Bucco reached base more than once as the club managed just six hits.
• Josh Bell's homer was his 26th of the campaign, tying him with Jason Bay (2004) for the most dingers hit in during a Pirates rookie season.
• With Steven Brault named to make the last start, Tyler Glasnow was relegated to the bullpen for this series and Clint wasted little time getting him in action for probably the last time this year (he went 3-2/3 IP and fired 76 pitches). Nova, btw, injured his index finger and x-rays on it were negative.
• Final attendance figures for PNC Park: 1,916,851/23,961 this year compared to 2,249,201/27,768 in 2016, a loss of 3,807 fans per game. It's a continuing trend. The Bucs drew an average of 2,470,580/30,514 in 2014-15 and this season broke a streak of five straight 2M fans attendance.