Nationals blast 3 home runs off Bryse Wilson to beat Pirates, prevent series sweep

The Pittsburgh Pirates were searching for a sweep at home.

The Washington Nationals were swinging for home runs.

Luis Garcia and Alex Avila hit solo shots and Lane Thomas a three-run homer off Bryse Wilson to lead the Nationals to a 6-2 win over the Pirates on Sunday afternoon before an announced crowd of 9,714 at PNC Park.

After winning the first two games of the three-game weekend series — and four out of the first six games in this nine-game homestand — the Pirates (52-91) failed to clinch a sweep for the 13th time. They remain the only team in baseball without a series sweep this season.

“That’s unfortunate. Obviously, you want to get those wins against any team that you can,” Pirates shortstop Kevin Newman said. “But we look at the positives and say that’s a series win. And, really, stringing those together is kind of the goal. Obviously, the icing on the cake is a sweep. But series wins is what gets you deep into the season and puts you in a good spot to potentially go into the postseason. So that’s kind of how you look at a series and how to progress.”

The Nationals (59-84) got seven solid innings from starter Patrick Corbin (8-14), who allowed two runs on four hits and two walks with four strikeouts on 101 pitches. The Pirates produced only one extra-base hit: a Newman triple in the third inning.

Wilson (2-7), by contrast, allowed five runs on seven hits and two walks in 4 2/3 innings. Four of those hits were for extra bases, including three home runs. Wilson blamed it on his drifting from his mechanics, which affected the velocity on his fastball.

“It was inconsistent command throughout the game,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “I thought he kind of left his delivery a little bit today and it made not only the fastball, but the slider in the changeup not as effective as we’ve seen. His stuff played a little bit flat.”

The Nationals took a 1-0 lead when Garcia hit a leadoff home run 401 feet to center field in the second inning.

Wilmer Difo hit a bloop single to center, advanced to second on Anthony Alford’s single and reached third on Ben Gamel’s groundout. Wilson laid down a bunt between the pitcher’s mound and first base, and Corbin had no play at the plate. The sacrifice scored Difo to tie the score at 1-1 with Wilson’s first major league RBI.

Newman led off the third with a triple to the left-center gap, then scored on a sacrifice fly to center by Bryan Reynolds for a 2-1 lead. After walking Colin Moran, Corbin got Jacob Stallings to ground into a double play. Corbin then retired the final 13 batters.

The Nationals scored four runs off Wilson in the fourth, starting with a two-out solo home run by Alex Avila. Adrian Sanchez followed with a double, and Corbin singled to set up Thomas’ three-run homer for a 5-2 lead.

“Yeah, I felt like I was drifting a little bit in my mechanics, not getting into my backside as well as normal,” Wilson said, “and I think that led to velocity being down and the fastball — four-seam and two-seam — being a little bit flatter than usual. Yeah, I was searching for it pretty much all game, but it’s just one of those days where we couldn’t find it.

“Usually, the four-seam has a little bit more ride than it did today, and that helps it get further up in the zone and it just wasn’t getting up in the zone as well today. Got some swings and misses on it, but, ultimately, left three belt high that they took advantage of.”

Soto led off the seventh with a triple over the outstretched glove of Ben Gamel in right center, then scored on a single by Yadiel Hernandez to give the Nationals a 6-2 lead. Soto added a ground-rule double in the ninth, reaching base safely in eight of his final nine at bats in the series.

“This guy is one of the best players in the game,” Shelton said. “If you like hitting — and I think you guys know I do — watching him hit from afar … I don’t want to watch him hit against us, but he does a lot of things. He keeps his barrel in the zone. He’s very rarely off balance. You don’t become one of the best players in the game at 22 if you’re not elite, and this guy really had good at-bats. He’s at 190 walks for a 22-year-old (which) tells you this guy swings at the right pitches and when he does he hits them hard.”

The Pirates had runners on first and second in the eighth but Hoy Park was thrown out trying to take third base when Kyle Finnegan’s pitch went off to the right of catcher Avila. Newman was stranded at second when Reynolds flew out to left to end the inning.

Finnegan completed a 1-2-3 ninth inning for his ninth save.

“One of the things that I talked to him afterwards was, we have to make sure we’re safe there so you have to know the distance,” Shelton said of Park. “I like the aggressiveness. but in that situation, down runs, we’ve got to make sure we can be safe there.”