PITTSBURGH — A day after a 16-run explosion, the Pirates came up a run short on Tuesday night, falling, 5-4, to the Washington Nationals at PNC Park. The winning run reached base in the ninth inning, but Oneil Cruz and Nick Yorke, who had pinch hit for Brandon Lowe in the seventh, were retired to end the game.

The Pirates fell behind 5-1 after four innings. Their bullpen kept them alive, but the Pirates were unable to dig out of the hole from Mitch Keller’s short start.

Keller struggled, allowing five runs on six hits, four walks and a hit batter in four innings. He struck out three. He gave up more runs in the first five batters (three) than he had in his first three starts of the year (two).

The first inning could have been worse. After scoring three runs on two walks and three consecutive singles, they ran into two outs on the bases. Keller picked off Daylen Lile, who inexplicably had taken a big lead off second base, then Keller struck out Jacob Young and Joey Bart threw out CJ Abrams attempting to steal second.

But Keller never really settled in. He allowed a solo homer to Abrams in the third, one that nearly flew over the Clemente Wall bleachers, and allowed a Luis Garcia Jr. RBI single in the fourth. After a 24-pitch fourth inning, bringing Keller’s count to 90, he was done.

Yohan Ramirez (two scoreless), Mason Montgomery and Isaac Mattson kept the Nationals scoreless, as the Pirates chipped away with Lowe’s first inning solo homer, a two-run fourth (aided by an RBI double from Marcell Ozuna), and Joey Bart’s solo homer in the fifth.

Jake Mangum kept it a one-run game in the top of the eighth, throwing Abrams out at the plate on a single from pinch-hitter Jose Tena.

It was over when …

… the Pirates came up scoreless in the seventh. They loaded the bases on a pinch-hit single from Mangum, a knock from Konnor Griffin and a Cruz error, before manager Don Kelly elected to pinch-hit Yorke for Lowe. The move, presumably made for a platoon advantage, backfired when Yorke grounded into an inning-ending double play.

Lowe is hitting .150 against lefties, including a homer off lefty PJ Poulin in the first inning. He’s also homered in three consecutive games. Yorke, batting in his place, grounded out to end the game.

On the mound

Of the 90 pitches Keller threw, just 22 were either called strikes or whiffs. The Nationals hit him hard and hit him often, then capitalized on the five free passes.

Ramirez continued his strong start to the season out of the bullpen, retiring all six hitters he faced. He struck out two and lowered his ERA to 1.54.

At the plate

While it wasn’t quite a breakout, both Bart and Ozuna had their best offensive games of the season. Bart’s homer, while barely clearing the left field wall, was just his third hit of the season.

Ozuna went 2 for 4 with a double, checking off a couple of Pirates firsts: first extra-base hit, first RBI and first multi-hit game. He also reached on a throwing error, while a sliding catch in left-center robbed him of a third hit.

Most valuable player

Abrams drove in two runs and went 3 for 4, finishing a triple shy of the cycle.

Up next

The Pirates and Nationals continue their four-game series on Wednesday at 6:40 p.m. The Pirates have not yet announced a starter, while right-hander Jake Irvin (1-1, 7.07 ERA) will throw for Washington. If the Pirates continue their typical order in the rotation, Carmen Mlodzinski would be scheduled to throw.

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