Pirates Beat Nationals on Bench Clearing, Gram Slam Night
In this story:
PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Pirates defated the Washington Nationals at PNC Park, 6-1, in one of the more wild games of the 2025 season.
The Pirates have now taken two of three games in the series vs. the Nationals, as they won 10-3 back on April 14 and lost 3-0 on April 15. They improve to 7-12 overall and 5-4 at home in 2025.
Pittsburgh loaded the bases in the bottom of the second inning with two outs, as second baseman Jared Triolo and shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa hit back-to-back singles and first baseman Enmanuel Valdez walked, but catcher Henry Davis would pop up to end the inning.
Neither team did much offensively through the first four innings, as left-handed starting pitchers in Bailey Falter for the Pirates and Mitchell Parker for the Nationals dominated.
The Pirates would score first, as Davis hit a solo home run off of Parker in the bottom of the fifth inning that hit off the foul pole.
Falter would go seven innings for the Pirates, allowing just two hits, a walk and no runs, for his best start of the season, as Nationals hitters couldn't get anything off of him.
Nationals brought in right-handed pitcher Jorge Lopez in the bottom of the seventh inning and he allowed back-to-back singles from Kiner-Falefa and Valdez.
Davis would break his bat towards Nationals third baseman Amed Rosario, who would throw him out at first base, but would score Kiner-Falefa, making it 2-0 Pirates.
Pirates third baseman Ke'Bryan Hayes would ground out for the second out, but then Lopez hit designated hitter Bryan Reynolds.
Lopez threw a wild pitch that moved both Valez and Reynolds. He then, on a 1-1 count in the next at-bat, threw a pitch that rose up and in, forcing Pirates right fielder Andrew McCutchen to dive to the ground to avoid the ball hitting his face.
While the umpire crew decided on a warning or an ejection for Lopez, McCutchen and Lopez both shouted words at each other, which saw both benches clear.
9.2.24 ➡️ Reynolds & McCutchen homer off of Jorge López
— SportsNet Pittsburgh (@SNPittsburgh) April 17, 2025
Tonight ➡️ López nearly hits them both with a pitch, benches clear, and he is ejected 😳 pic.twitter.com/XeycEpcssF
The umpire crew then ejected Lopez following this and the Nationals brought in right-handed pitcher Eduardo Salazar.
Salazar walked McCutchen on the next two pitches and then center fielder Cruz hit a grand slam on the next at-bat, putting the Pirates up 6-0. This was Cruz's first career grand slam.
SWEET, SWEET JUSTICE!
— SportsNet Pittsburgh (@SNPittsburgh) April 17, 2025
1ST CAREER GRAND SLAM FOR ONEIL CRUZ 😏 pic.twitter.com/wOAEJ7t8rF
Left-handed pitcher Caleb Ferguson came through with a scoreless eighth inning for the Pirates.
Right-handed pitcher Chase Shugart, who the Pirates called back up the day prior, pitched the ninth inning.
He allowed a single to Nationals center fielder Dylan Crews and walked second baseman Luis Garcia Jr.. He got shortstop Nasim Nuñez to ground out, moving the runners, and then got right fielder Alex Call to fly out, which did score Crews, breaking the shutout.
Shugart ended the game by getting Nationals left fielder James Wood to line out, finishing with a solid win.
The Pirates close out the series vs. the Nationals on April 17, with first pitch set for 12:35 p.m.
Dominic writes for Pittsburgh Pirates On SI, Pittsburgh Panthers Pn SI and also, Pittsburgh Steelers On SI. A Pittsburgh native, Dominic grew up watching Pittsburgh Sports and wrote for The Pitt News as an undergraduate at the University of Pittsburgh, covering Pitt Athletics. He would write for Pittsburgh Sports Now after college and has years of experience covering sports across Pittsburgh.