After a day off to think about a fully formed rivalry between the Washington Nationals and the Philadelphia Phillies, it was time to play baseball again. The Nats traveled to Pittsburgh to start their Ohio River road trip. Edwin Jackson faced A.J. Burnett. Other than two solo homers, Jackson was decent, while Burnett was striking out seemingly every other D.C. player. They both left the game with the score 2-2. Jackson had two hits too.

Tyler Clippard came in for Washington in the 8th and gave up a run. I thought to myself, don’t panic, Clippard is just trying to vulture a win again and Joel Hanrahan would be pitching for the Buccos in the ninth. Sure enough, the Hanrahan we all remember (though not as heavy and in need of a haircut) came out and blew a save. Ryan Zimmerman, in his first game off the DL, singled. Adam LaRoche, also back from the DL, homered to take the lead. Same ol’ Joel. The Nats couldn’t get any more runs across, even after a Wilson Ramos single.

The bottom of the ninth featured Henry Rodriguez, now the only closer in the bullpen. Rodriguez was taking an awful lot of time between pitches which gave me a bad feeling. Sure enough, he gave up a single and then threw two wild pitches. Rod Barajas made him pay, hitting his first home run of the season to walk-off with the win.

The Nats now have a two-game losing streak.

In other news, The Maryland Bureau Chief Emeritus texted me that there was a Presidents vs. Pierogi race. Teddy sat it out. The Pierogis won. No video though; neither on the Pirates site or youtube. C’mon Pittsburgh, get with the program.