Bullpen Finishes What Willy Started + Starling's Blast = 2-0 Bucco Victory To Take The Series

Trevor Williams stranded two walks and Gio Gonzalez left J-Hay, who had singled, aboard in the first. The second frames were clean, although Willy is nibbling; he's gone full on four batters already. The Nats got a leadoff double in the third, but a couple of well-stroked outs kept them off the board. Jordy opened with a two-bagger and was bunted to third. Josh K'ed, but Starling picked him up with a drive into the greenery to give the Bucs a 2-0 edge. A fourth inning walk and single weren't cashed in by DC; Willy has be dodging some raindrops as his velo is 89-90. Maybe some mid-season dead arm is biting him. Freeser and J-Bell had back-to-back knocks with one gone and they died on the basepaths. Two singles left Nats on first and third with two away in the fifth. Trevor fanned Harper to calm the waters. Starling walked but was caught stealing, a rarity, to end the Bucco half.

Willy bent but didn't break today (photo Pittsburgh Pirates)

Trevor was yanked after 81 pitches with a four-hit, three-walk, three-whiff shutout, a quick hook by Clint tho Willy has labored today, and Ric Rod got the sixth. He got a strikeout, walk and DP ball for a quiet frame. Freeser had a two-out rap, and after the play Gonzalez came up gimpy. He finished the frame, fanning J-Bell. Edgar Santana allowed a single in the seventh. Shawn Kelley took the hill and gave up a Jordy two-bagger with an out, but a whiff and a pop kept the zeros coming. It was smooth sailing for Kyle Crick in the eighth and Justin Miller spun a 1-2-3 inning. Felipe Vazquez toed the slab after a day off yesterday and looked pretty rested. He struck out the side, mixing off speed nicely with 99 MPH heat. RTJR!

20 saves for Felipe after today (photo Pittsburgh Pirates)

Notes:

• Freeser and Jordy had two hits; Starling homered and walked.
• Felipe Vazquez now has a 10-game save streak and gone a dozen games without yielding a run. Kyle Crick also has a 12-game zippo run while Edgar Santana has spun seven straight zero-run appearances. 
• Today marked Jordan Luplow's first MLB start; he went 0-for-3.
• There were 21,803 in the park today.
• Chad Kuhl will be shut down for another month due to his forearm strain; the silver lining is that the docs think rest will cure it rather than the scalpel. Jung-Ho Kang, who's been off with a wrist sprain since June 24th, will be reevaluated sometime next week. He's banned from baseball activities until the docs clear him. Indy utility guy Chris Bostick, who's been playing well enough to be considered for a call up, is still down two weeks after an appendectomy but now beginning to work out. AJ Schugel is still TBD though he is throwing some.
• RHP Jeanmar Gomez was called up by the White Sox. He was a Pirate from 2013-14, then a Phil.