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PITTSBURGH — Ryan Doumit had three hits, including a home run, and two RBIs, and Garrett Jones drove in three runs to lead the Pittsburgh Pirates to an 8-5 victory over the Washington Nationals on Friday night.
Pittsburgh’s three rookie regulars also made contributions as Pedro Alvarez hit a two-run double in the fifth, Jose Tabata had two hits and two RBIs and Neil Walker extended his hitting streak to 10 games. That helped the Pirates win for just the second time in seven games while handing Washington its third straight loss.
Zach Duke (7-12) pitched five innings for the win and left after failing to retire any of the four batters he faced in the sixth inning as Washington scored four runs to close to 8-5. He allowed four runs and five hits with three walks and five strikeouts.
Joel Hanrahan, the seventh Pirates pitcher, worked a scoreless ninth for his third save in six opportunities. He was twice removed as the Nationals’ closer last season before being traded to Pittsburgh on June 30.
Livan Hernandez (9-10) was hit hard in his first start since signing a one-year contract extension with the Nationals last Sunday. He gave up eight hits and eight runs in 4 1-3 innings while walking two and striking out four.
Doumit had been hitting just .215 in 20 games being activated from the disabled list Aug. 7 after missing 15 games with a concussion. He got a rare start at catcher with most of his action in recent weeks coming in right field while Chris Snyder took over as the starter behind the plate. Doumit is hitting .281 when he is catching but .175 when he plays other positions.
Jones, mired in a 7-for-50 slump coming in and batting .144 in 31 games since July 28, doubled home two runs in a three-run third inning that put the Pirates ahead 3-1 and added an RBI double in a four-run fifth that pushed the lead to 8-1.
Danny Espinosa hit his first major-league home run and also doubled for Washington. Ian Desmond and Ryan Zimmerman had two hits apiece.
Rays 4, Orioles 1
BALTIMORE — Matt Garza pitched into the sixth inning to earn his 14th win, Carl Crawford had three hits and an RBI, and the Tampa Bay Rays cruised to a victory over the Baltimore Orioles.
The Rays stayed 1 1/2 games behind the first-place New York Yankees in the AL East and extended their wild-card lead over Boston to seven games. Tampa Bay has won five of six and nine of 12.
Garza (14-7) gave up one run and five hits in 5 2-3 innings. It was an extension of an outstanding August in which he had a 1.27 ERA over five starts.
In his last outing against the Orioles, Garza yielded four homers and seven runs in 6 1-3 innings. The right-hander’s performance in the rematch provided a measure of redemption and improved his lifetime record against Baltimore to 9-1, including 3-0 this season.
Rafael Soriano worked the ninth for his major-league leading 41st save.
Felix Pie drove in the lone run for the Orioles, mired in their first three-game losing streak under manager Buck Showalter. Baltimore is 17-13 since Showalter made his debut on Aug. 3.
Kevin Millwood (3-15) allowed four runs and seven hits in 5 2-3 innings. He was vying for a second straight win after going nine straight starts without one.
Millwood allowed at least one first-inning run in 13 of his previous 17 starts, and it appeared the trend would continue when Crawford hit a two-out triple and Evan Longoria walked. But Carlos Pena popped out to end the threat.
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Doumit, Jones help Pirates beat Nationals
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