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| Bautista homers twice as Pirates crush Nationals PITTSBURGH 11, WASHINGTON 4 |
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By Todd Jacobson PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer WASHINGTON (Ticker) -- Jose Bautista had the Washington Nationals' number before and after the lights went out. Bautista sandwiched a pair of home runs around a 25-minute delay caused when several banks of lights went dark as the Pittsburgh Pirates snapped the Nationals' four-game winning streak with an 11-4 triumph on Friday. Bautista's first home run - a three-run shot - capped a six-run third inning. He added a solo blast in the fifth for a career-high four RBI. "I'm used to (the lights going out) because I play winter ball in the Dominican Republic," joked Bautista, who last homered twice in a game on August 25 against the Houston Astros. Ryan Doumit and Chris Gomez each drove in a pair of runs for Pittsburgh, which put an emphatic end to lefthander John Lannan's 21-inning scoreless streak. Lannan's run ended in the top of the third inning, when Doumit roped an RBI single to center field to open the scoring. Fresh off a season-high 13 runs in a win over the New York Mets on Wednesday, Pittsburgh sent 10 batters to the plate in the third. "I was leaving the ball up," Lannan said. "I didn't have anything in my slider. They battled me and I made some mistakes. I just stunk today." Xavier Nady had a run-scoring single and, one batter later, Bautista capped the rally with his second home run of the season. Lannan (2-3) allowed six runs and six hits in three innings. The teams then waited through an extended fourth inning for Washington's malfunctioning lights to come back on. When they did, the fans did not like what they saw. Bautista launched his second home run of the game to left field off Mike O'Connor for an 8-4 edge. Gomez delivered a two-run single in the seventh and Jason Bay capped the scoring with an RBI double in the eighth. Phil Dumatrait was handed the huge lead but could not pick up his first career win. The lefthander allowed four runs and six hits in four innings. Four Pirates relievers combined to toss five scoreless innings, including Damaso Marte (2-0), who worked two perfect frames. Dumatrait retired the first eight hitters he faced, but Pirates manager John Russell said he looked like a different pitcher after the delay. "It takes a little bit of the edge off and your arm shuts down a little bit," Russell said. "You don't have that edge that you had going into that. I think it did affect him a little bit." "Even though I gave up four runs, I feel this is the best start I've had up here," said Dumatrait, who went 0-4 with a 15.00 ERA in six starts with the Cincinnati Reds last season. "Before the delay, I didn't throw like that at all last year. Definitely there's a lot of positives I am going to take." Wil Nieves had a two-run double and Wily Mo Pena drove in a run for Washington. |
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