Ask A.J. Burnett about his start in Saturday night’s loss and he would not discuss the eight strikeouts, but rather all of the mistakes he made.
“I’m hitting guys in the foot, throwing balls down the middle, throwing balls away from first, I didn’t cover home,” Burnett said. “I got strike outs but I’ve got to keep the balls in the lanes and in the corners.”
The Pittsburgh Pirates appeared to be on the verge of a comeback following a three-run sixth inning, but one swing of the bat from Ian Desmond changed that.
Desmond’s home run, his third in as many games, allowed the Washington Nationals to add to their lead en route to a 9-3 victory.
The Nationals struck first with a run in the second inning. Desmond started off with a single and Jose Lobaton followed suit with a single of his own which placed runners on first and third base.
Burnett [8-4] then threw a wild pitch and did not cover home plate resulting in Desmond easily crossing home plate safely.
“You’ve got to be moving in that direction because the ball didn’t get that far away,” manager Clint Hurdle said. “I think [Cervelli] was surprised we didn’t have a play so we might have been caught flat footed.”
Yunel Escobar opened the fourth inning with a double and was followed by Clint Robinson being hit by a pitch. Following a sacrifice bunt, Lobaton was also hit by a pitch loading the bases. Two batters later, Gio Gonzalez [8-4] hit a ground ball. Burnett stuck his glove out and deflected the ball. Gonzalez was credited with a base hit and a run scored.
A second run scored in the inning on a Michael Taylor single.
The Nationals added single runs in both the fifth and sixth inning as Robinson singled in Bryce Harper and Anthony Rendon, who came back from the 15-day disabled list, hit a sacrifice fly.
In the sixth inning, Pedro Alvarez led off with a single. Gregory Polanco then reached base because of a Robinson error placing runners on the corners. Starling Marte then singled in a run and so did Andrew McCutchen. This knocked Gonzalez out of the game.
Aramis Ramirez then faced Aaron Barrett and grounded into a double play. Barrett would surrender a hit to Francisco Cervelli which cut the deficit to 5-3.
With Deolis Guerra replacing Burnett after 5.2 innings, the Nationals scored another two runs in the seventh inning.
Escobar once again led off with a double and Desmond hit his 11th home run of the season.
An inning later, the Nationals again scored two runs, this time off Arquimedes Caminero. Pinch-hitter Emmannuel Burriss worked a walk and Taylor hit his seventh home run of the season on the first pitch he saw.
The Nationals totaled 14 hits in the victory.
Following the game Burnett was asked about his first two starts of the second half. He has allowed 11 runs on 22 hits in 11.2 innings of work. Burnett’s numbers have shown that he fares better in the first half of the season compared to the second and he was asked about this trend.
“I’m a human being,” said Burnett. “If you expect me to go out and do what I did in the first half, you’re nuts. I’m going to do everything I can, but that’s ridiculous numbers.”
Sunday marks the conclusion of the four game series as Gerrit Cole [13-4 2.31 ERA] takes on Joe Ross [2-2 2.70 ERA]. Cole is 1-0 with a 2.08 ERA in two career starts against the Nationals.
He said it: “It [the game] didn’t go as I expected. I would like to get a W the first day, but it didn’t happen. We’ll try again tomorrow.” – Aramis Ramirez on his first game back to the Pirates
Photo credit: Gene J. Puskar/AP Photo
