PITTSBURGH — Nick Gonzales highlighted a five-run second inning with a two-run single and finished with three RBIs as the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Washington Nationals 9-4 on Thursday, one night after being no-hit.
Oneil Cruz had a sharply hit a two-out double to right in the opening inning for the Pirates' first hit after managing just three baserunners — two walks and an error — against Chicago a night earlier when the Cubs' Shota Imanaga, Nate Pearson and Porter Hodge combined on a no-hitter.
Gonzales softly grounded to third, ending that threat and the Pirates trailing 3-0. But Gonzales bounced back and brought in two runs with a single to right in the second inning after Jared Triolo, Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Bryan Reynolds had run-scoring hits.
''Have to do whatever it takes to get back out there. No-hit yesterday doesn't really mean anything today,'' Gonzales said. ''I think we just had a good plan from the get-go, a good idea of what we wanted to do against the pitcher and kind of just stuck with it.''
Yasmani Grandal extended Pittsburgh's lead to 6-3 in the third with a single to right off Jake Irvin (9-12), who gave up six runs, seven hits and three walks in five innings.
Triolo scored on a passed ball in the sixth. Eduardo Salazar replaced Joe La Sosa and walked Gonzales and Rowdy Tellez with the bases loaded.
Pittsburgh had eight hits and a season-high nine walks.
''This is a team that doesn't walk a lot of people,'' Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. ''I think they throw the third-most amount of strikes in baseball and we had, what, eight or nine walks? Had really good at-bats, had consecutive walks. Then got some big two-out hits. Nick's big two-out hit there.''
