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PITTSBURGH(AP) In front of his rebuilt former team,
Lastings Milledge
made a good first impression on the new-look
Pittsburgh Pirates
.
Milledge had two RBI singles in his Pittsburgh debut,
Steve Pearce
hit his first homer of the season and the refurbished Pirates snapped a five-game losing streak with a 5-4 victory over the
Washington Nationals
on Friday night.
''He got off to a good start,'' Pittsburgh manager
John Russell
said of Milledge, who was recalled from the minors after a flurry of trades by the Pirates this week. ''You get that first
hit out of way, the first RBI, first nice play in the outfield, it makes you feel pretty good. He's a very good player. He's
a guy we like. He did a good job tonight and we look forward to watching him play the rest of the year.''
Ross Ohlendorf
(9-8) allowed two runs and six hits in 6 1-3 innings,
Matt Capps
earned his 21st save and
Andrew McCutchen
went 2 for 3 for the Pirates.
Ryan Zimmerman
homered and
Cristian Guzman
went 2 for 4 with an RBI for the Nationals, who have lost three straight.
The last-place teams met on a trade deadline day that included the first game for their respective watered-down rosters.
Earlier Friday, the Nationals traded first baseman
Nick Johnson
and reliever
Joe Beimel
. The Pirates had dealt regulars
Freddy Sanchez
and
Jack Wilson
on Wednesday and reliever
John Grabow
during an off day Thursday. Pittsburgh had traded starting first baseman
Adam LaRoche
the day of their previous home game, July 22.
''Obviously, we have a much different team than we had, but I still think we have a team that can do real well,'' said Ohlendorf,
who has started the game following three major Pirates trades this season - all victories. ''It takes a lot of courage when
you trade popular players away, but this will really help us down the road.''
In an added trade-related twist, Milledge faced the team that gave up on him earlier this season, demoting the former top
prospect to the minors and trading him along with reliever
Joel Hanrahan
to Pittsburgh for
Nyjer Morgan
and
Sean Burnett
on June 30.
Milledge's hits came in the third and seventh off Nationals starter
John Lannan
(7-8), but the left fielder misplayed Guzman's sinking liner into an RBI double with Hanrahan on the mound in the eighth.
Milledge had his left thumb examined by the Pirates' training staff after the play but stayed in the game.
''It's always good to have another opportunity,'' said Milledge, a one-time top prospect with the
New York Mets
. ''I feel like this time I want to be more precious with it and put things together out there and try to be successful.''
With several of their favorite players having been traded this season, Pittsburgh fans gave warmer applause each time the
popular Morgan was announced than for anyone on the Pirates.
Morgan popped out to end the game with two on.
''There were a lot of mixed emotions, but mainly real positive,'' Morgan said. ''It definitely felt good to get that ovation
from the fans that was very much appreciated.
''I think my emotions left after my first at-bat, but I think they came back in the last at-bat. I kind of got out of my element
a little bit. I just wanted to do something special.''
Pearce's homer, the fifth of his career, led off the fourth.
Pearce - given a chance to be the everyday first baseman after the LaRoche trade - scored the Pirates' first run when he doubled
and was driven in by
Andy LaRoche
's single in the second.
Willie Harris
' RBI double gave Washington its only lead in the top of the inning.
''It's been a crazy last couple days, but obviously (general manager Neal Huntington) is not going to do anything to try to
have us lose,'' said
Andy LaRoche
, Adam's younger brother. ''He obviously wants to win just as bad as we do. ... Everybody's counting us out right now, but
who knows what's going to happen these last two months? We might surprise some people.''
Zimmerman's home run, his 20th, went to deep left-center and led off the seventh. The Nationals scored on
Evan Meek
's wild pitch in the eighth to cut the deficit to one.
Lannan entered the game having allowed a total of two runs in his past two starts but was charged with more than three earned
runs in a game for only the third time in his past 20 outings. He allowed five runs and nine hits in seven innings.
''I had it bad out there today, but I took some positives out of it,'' Lannan said. ''You knew that something was going to
happen today. Nick's a great ballplayer and Joe helps any staff. On deadline day, you know a lot of things are going to go
down, so it really didn't affect my mentality.''
NOTES: The game was also the Pirates' debut for SS
Ronny Cedeno
, who was acquired in the Wilson trade from Seattle. Cedeno went 1 for 4 and made a nice diving play in the field. ... Entering
the game, the entire Pirates lineup combined for 26 home runs this season - the same number as Nationals 1B
Adam Dunn
, who went 1 for 4 with three strikeouts. ... The Pirates have won five of their past seven at home.
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