Patrick Corbin was coolly efficient, needing only 93 pitches to get through eight shutout innings, and the Nats offense was again balls to the wall in an 11-1 Washington win at Pittsburgh Wednesday night.
The outburst marked the fifth time in seven games that the Nationals (69-57) scored in double digits.
Corbin (10-5, 3.17 ERA) allowed three hits and walked two, while striking out four, in his eight-inning stint. Corbin also stroked an RBI double and scored a run, contributing to the offensive onslaught.
Asdrubal Cabrera fueled a six-run rally in the third inning that broke the game open with a three-run homer, his second as a Nat and his 13th on the season overall.
Anthony Rendon plated two more later in that third with a single, his 99th and 100th RBIs of the 2019 season.
The win didn’t translate into made-up ground in the NL East race, though, unfortunately for Nats fans. Atlanta defeated Miami 5-0 Wednesday night, and the Braves (76-52) maintain a six-game lead over the Nationals.
Washington are starting to get some separation in the NL wild-card race. The Nats are a game and a half up on the Chicago Cubs for the first of the two wild-card spots, and three and a half clear of Philadelphia and the New York Mets, and five ahead of Milwaukee.
The Nationals get ace Max Scherzer (9-5, 2.41 ERA) back on the mound on Thursday for the series finale in Pittsburgh. Scherzer has taken the mound just once since July 6 as he has tried to work around a mild rhomboid strain in his right shoulder.
Story by Chris Graham
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