Pirates sweep Nationals doubleheader with 16-1 rout in Game 2, earn 20th win

It took all of one day for the Pittsburgh Pirates to earn a series victory against the Washington Nationals.

Having taken down the Nationals in the first game of Saturday’s day-night doubleheader, the Pirates scored runs in six of the first seven innings of the nightcap to win 16-1, setting up a chance for a series sweep Sunday.

With Saturday’s wins, the Pirates (20-8) are the second team to reach 20 wins (with Tampa Bay) and own the MLB’s second-best record behind the Rays.

While the Pirates still have work to do Sunday, they are set to visit Tampa Bay from May 2-4 for three games at Tropicana Field in what will be a showdown between two of the hottest teams in baseball.

“We’re playing good baseball,” manager Derek Shelton said on the AT&T SportsNet postgame show. “I think we played a complete game tonight, we set the tone and we played the full game. … It’s April. We have a lot of work to do, we still have to continue to play, but we’ve played really well and I’m really proud of this group.”

Former Pirate Chad Kuhl (2016-21) started for Washington and was chased after pitching four innings, allowing eight earned runs on seven hits, walking four and striking out four.

Pirates starter Vince Velasquez (4-2, 3.06 ERA) fared better, as he delivered his fourth straight quality start, earning a win for the fourth consecutive time dating to April 13.

Velasquez, riding a career-best 18-inning streak of shutout baseball, pitched six innings, allowing no runs with no walks while striking out five and surrendering five hits.

Including Velasquez’s outing, the Pirates are up to 18 quality starts as a team, which leads all of baseball.

“Whenever you get 18 quality starts, you’re going to be in a lot of games,” Shelton said. “We’ve been in a lot of games because of our starting pitching and it’s a credit to those five guys, it’s a credit to (pitching coach) Oscar (Marin) and the pitching group, because we’ve really thrown the ball well.”

The Pirates scored first in Game 1 in the second inning.

On Saturday night, they got to work even faster, taking a 1-0 lead in the top of the first when Carlos Santana plated Ke’Bryan Hayes with a sacrifice fly.

Hayes led off the game with a grounder down the first-base line that escaped the infield and turned into a double, advancing to third base when Andrew McCutchen flew out to right field.

The Pirates went up 2-0 by way of another sacrifice fly, this time off the bat of Jason Delay in the second inning, with Delay scoring Connor Joe, who had walked.

Then, in the third, Santana roped a double into right field to score Bryan Reynolds, which was followed immediately by another double by Jack Suwinski that brought Santana home.

Saturday night’s game featured no shortage of exclamation points for the Pirates, who set a new season- best for runs in a game, surpassing the 13 against the White Sox on April 7 in their Home Opener.

Up 4-0 entering the fourth inning, the Pirates added four more, with Reynolds and McCutchen collecting an RBI and Rodolfo Castro scoring two with a bloop single.

In the sixth, after singles by Hayes and Santana and a walk of Reynolds loaded the bases, Suwinski crushed his team-leading sixth home run of the year – a grand slam – that traveled an estimated 444 feet, per Statcast.

Adding to the highlights Saturday was Drew Maggi collecting his first MLB hit in the top of the seventh, an RBI single that scored Jason Delay.

Maggi, 33, recently played his first-ever big-league game Wednesday after being called up to the Pirates from Double-A Altoona.

Maggi had been hitless in five at-bats during his stint with the Pirates, but finally got that elusive first hit in Washington in what could possibly be his final opportunity to do so. Saturday morning, Maggi was optioned back to Altoona, remaining active for the doubleheader.

Coming to the plate again in the top of the eighth, Maggi ripped a double down the left field line for his first MLB extra-base hit.

Maggi would soon thereafter score when Miguel Andujar blasted a three-run homer – his second of the day, having gone 2 for 3 with three RBI in the afternoon game – off Nationals outfielder Lane Thomas, who had the thankless task of pitching the eighth inning.

“I’m just happy,” Maggi said. “I don’t have that stress of, ‘Can I do it in the big leagues? Can I get to the big leagues?’ And now that it’s happened, I have that weight lifted off my shoulders. I can really just enjoy the game, the teammates and the goodness of baseball.”

Maggi’s hit was not the only first-ever occurrence of the night, as Pirates reliever Cody Bolton, called up to the club from Triple-A Indianapolis Wednesday, made his MLB debut, pitching scoreless seventh and eighth innings.

Yohan Ramirez finished the game in the ninth, but was unable to preserve the shutout, as he allowed a solo home run to Dominic Smith.

At 1:35 p.m. Sunday, the Pirates send Johan Oviedo to the hill as they go for their fourth sweep of the season