WASHINGTON -- Four batters into Wednesday night's game against the Washington Nationals, the Pirates had just won a challenge on a ground ball to second that erased a fielder's choice and loaded the bases with just one out.
Two batters later, they had scored just one run against Washington starter Stephen Strasburg. And when the Nationals got solo home runs from Bryce Harper and Matt Adams in their half of the first, the momentum clearly shifted back in Washington's favor.
With Strasburg dancing out of trouble and Harper, Adams and Wilmer Difo continuing their torrid hitting in this series, the Nationals once again routed the Pirates, winning their third straight against Pittsburgh, 9-3.
After falling to Tanner Roark, 3-2, in the series' opener on Monday and losing 12-4 to Max Scherzer Tuesday night, the Pirates (17-13) came out hot against Strasburg. But try as they might, they couldn't get a big hit against the big right-hander.
Leadoff man Max Moroff hit a sharp fly to deep left field for the first out, but Gregory Polanco and Starling Marte followed with singles to put runners on first and second with Josh Bell coming up.
TAP ABOVE FOR BOXSCORE, STANDINGS, VIDEOBell hit a sharp grounder to Howie Kendrick, who tossed to Trea Turner at the bag and he flipped the ball to first but was unable to get Bell hustling down the line. The Pirates challenged whether Turner held the bag and won, loading the bases with Corey Dickerson and Francisco Cervelli — their two hottest hitters — coming to the plate.
Dickerson barely avoided hitting into a double play himself, beating the throw to first to score a run, and Cervelli struck out, allowing Strasburg to wriggle out of trouble.
I asked Bell if he felt the Pirates had blown a big opportunity there.
"Yeah, especially that first inning. I roll over," he told me. "I had a good at-bat but didn't put the ball where I wanted to. From that point on, you look up and he's throwing seven strong."
Meanwhile, Ivan Nova, who had allowed just one run in his past two starts spanning 14 innings, ran into the same trouble the Pirates have dealt with this entire series — Harper, Adams and Difo.
Harper, batting leadoff for a second night in a row to try to keep the Pirates from pitching around him, hit a 2-2 changeup into the stands in right-centerfield to tie the game:
Two batters later, Adams, who had hit two home runs Tuesday night, hit a 1-1 pitch the opposite way for a homer to left.
Just like that, Strasburg had the lead he needed. He finished with 12 strikeouts in seven innings, allowing two earned runs.
"They jumped on me early. You see Harper in the first inning, Adams. They are an aggressive team," Nova said. "I missed two pitches and they hit them. It was a situation where I needed to make some good pitches and it didn't happen."
And they did it again and again. While neither pitcher was especially sharp early, with both seeing their pitch counts run into the 70s in the fourth inning, Strasburg got sharper as he went.
Nova, much like Chad Kuhl Tuesday night, never found his rhythm.
The Pirates tied the game at 2-2 in the third as Dickerson drove in Polanco, who had doubled with one out. But the Nationals again answered, as Harper ripped a double into the right field corner, then scored on an Adams single to center for a 3-2 lead.
Then, in the fourth, with one out and runners at the corners, Harper grounded into a fielder's choice at second. But he just beat the relay from Jordy Mercer at first to avoid an inning-ending double play and the Nationals led 4-2.
The Nationals finally put the game and Nova away in the fifth, scoring four runs after loading the bases. An error by Moroff — who struck out four times in five at bats — at second allowed the first two runs to score, then a fielder's choice by Difo plated a third run.
Clint Hurdle elected to keep Nova in the game against Harper and he made him pay for the decision, lacing a single to right-center, just past Moroff, who was in the lineup for defensive purposes.
It's been the story thus far of this series. The Nationals get the hits and make the pitches when they need to. The Pirates have not.
"We haven't executed the way we need to," said Hurdle. "They've hit the mistakes that we've made. We had opportunities today in two innings to push. We needed a hit. We needed a ball in the gap a couple of times. That changes the entire direction of the game. We play better defense, we do something on offense earlier, it can change the landscape of the game, as well."
1. WHAT FIRST-OVERALL PICKS SHOULD BE
This game was a classic look at what a first-overall pick in a draft should be.
While the Pirates had Strasburg on the ropes early, he made the pitches he needed to make to work out of jams with minimal damage. And Harper once again showed he is one of the most dangerous hitters in the game.
Strasburg was the top pick in the 2009 draft and Harper followed as the first choice in 2010. There's a certain amount of luck there in terms of stinking in the right years. But Washington got two stud players.
Strasburg is now 87-48 in his career and has an ERA right around three. His double-digit strikeout performance against the Pirates was the 34th of his career.
"He was at 74 pitches after four innings. That was our time to push," said Hurdle. "If we could have pushed in the fifth like we did the first, that's what we needed to do to change the direction of the game. Stretch him out. But the fifth inning was a 10-pitch inning. He turned it. That's what great pitchers do."
Harper, meanwhile, came a triple shy of hitting for the cycle and drove in three runs. He now has 11 home runs this season despite being walked a league-high 39 times.
If the Pirates didn't know it before, they're quickly finding out you can't make mistakes to Harper.
"None," Nova said of the room for error pitching to Harper. "You don't have any. You've got to make pitches to other guys. You give him a walk, he'll take it. You give him something good to hit, he's going to take it out of the building."
That's what No. 1-overall picks are supposed to look like. Certainly not like Bryan Bullington — selected by the Pirates first overall in 2002 — or even Gerrit Cole. At least not the version of Cole who pitched for the Pirates, going 59-42 with a 3.50 ERA in five years before being traded to Houston in the offseason.
2. BELL'S STRUGGLES CONTINUE
While Polanco had a pair of hits in this game to lift his average back above .200 for the season, Bell went 0-for-3 to see his average dip to .237 with just one home run thus far. It's far different from last season when he hit 26 homers and drove in 90 runs.
Bell is still driving in runs — 16 thus far — but he admits he's having a tough time at the plate even though he thinks he's close to coming out of it.
"Yeah. I definitely think so," he said. "I've been putting in the work in the cages. I have to be more selective. I'm going to get their pitches, their best pitches. They're not going to sugarcoat anything for me because I have a track record now. I've got to let them come to me and take my walks. In the meantime, if they make a mistake, I have to make them pay for it."
That hasn't happened much of late. Bell's two-hit game Tuesday night was his first in more than two weeks.
I asked him if he's pressing a bit at the plate. That's leading him to swing at pitcher's pitches or ones out of the zone.
"I'm just trying to do a little bit more than I should," he said. "I need to just take my walks."
3. BULLPEN SHOWS UP
Despite Washington scoring nine runs in this game, eight came against Nova. Kyle Crick and Steven Brault combined to allow just one run in 3 1/3 innings.
The run against Crick, just his second in nine appearances this season, came after Kendrick hit a one-out double in the sixth and then scored on a two-out single by Stevenson.
Making just his second relief appearance this season after being pushed out of the rotation by rookie Nick Kingham, Brault threw two scoreless innings, allowing one hit and striking out three. He even got Harper to roll over to second base for an easy out.
Brault has now thrown five innings of relief this season, allowing three hits and striking out six. His previous relief appearance came on opening day in Detroit. The limited results are better than what he had as a starter, where the lefty posted an ERA over 5.00.
"I haven't seen much of it," Hurdle said of Brault working out of the pen. "Opening day was over a month ago. It was the end of the game and he had pitched a lot in the spring. He threw strikes and attacked people. Today, he was able to run a ball in on Harper. He needs to get back to doing what he did today, that's being aggressive and throwing strikes."