Game Log: July 5, 2026 @ Nationals
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PIT | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 11 | 13 | 0 |
| WSH | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 10 | 1 |
The Pirates went into Washington and came out with an 11-5 win, which puts them at 46-45, a game over .500. It did not come easy for most of the night. This was a 4-4 game into the eighth inning before the offense pulled away.
The bats got to work early. In the second, Ryan O’Hearn and Nick Gonzales came around on a Tyler Callihan two-run single, and Jake Mangum followed with an RBI single to make it 3-0. Bryan Reynolds led off the third with a solo homer, his 13th, and the Pirates were up 4-0 before Washington could get much going.
Bubba Chandler could not hold one of the league’s top offenses down. He walked four and struck out nobody over four innings, and the Nationals kept chipping. Luis García Jr. hit a two-run homer in the third, Washington got a run in the fourth, and CJ Abrams tied it at 4-4 with a sacrifice fly in the fifth. Chandler left the fifth with the bases loaded.
The bullpen was the story from there. Mason Montgomery came on with the bases loaded and gave up the tying run on the Abrams sacrifice fly before getting out of the inning, and then Mattson, Gregory Soto, and Santana followed. The four of them covered the last five innings and gave up one run, a solo homer to Dylan Crews off Soto in the eighth. That is the kind of night from the pen the Pirates have needed more of.
The eighth is where it broke open. With the game tied, Jared Triolo singled and Jake Mangum walked to load the bases, and Konnor Griffin lined a two-run single to right that scored Henry Davis and Triolo to put the Pirates ahead 6-4. Brandon Lowe followed with a three-run homer, his 21st, and it was 9-4. Two more in the ninth, both driven in by Davis, closed it out at 11-5.
There is not much to complain about in a road win like this, though Chandler’s outing was a tough one, and Esmerlyn Valdez went 0-for-5 with four strikeouts. The offense put up 13 hits, the bullpen held a tie and then a lead, and the defense turned two double plays, including Endy Rodríguez throwing out José Tena trying to steal second in the sixth. Washington came in at the same record the Pirates did, and taking one like this on the road is what you want from a team that thinks it is heading somewhere. On to the next one.
The eighth put it away It was tied at 4-4 into the eighth before Konnor Griffin's two-run single and Brandon Lowe's three-run homer, his 21st, turned it into a five-run inning.
The bullpen held the line Four relievers covered the last five innings and gave up one run, a Dylan Crews solo homer. That is the kind of night from the pen this team has needed.
Chandler could not find the zone Four walks and no strikeouts over four innings, and Washington worked all the way back from four down to tie it before the offense picked him up.