Barajas Delivers Clutch HR in 5-4 Pirate Victory

The boo-birds were chirping early and often for Rod Barajas as he stepped in the box for his four at bats in Tuesday night's ballgame. With one mighty swing of the bat he delivered the biggest home run of the season as the Pirates defeated the Nationals 5-4 in a true back in forth game.

The Nationals jumped out to an early 2-0 lead on a solo homer from Wilson Ramos followed by an rbi single by Rick Ankiel. The Pirates would answer in the bottom of the fourth on a pair of solo home runs from Andrew McCutchen and Garrett Jones.

 Following a costly Nationals error in the 8th, Neil Walker would drive in Nate McClouth on a sacrifice fly to give the Pirates a 3-2 lead. The Hammer was called upon to shut the door on the Nationals but failed to deliver after allowing a 2-Run home run to former Bucco Adam Laroche in the top of the 9th. As the stadium fell silent, Tony Watson would relieve Hanrahan to finish the last out in the inning.

After a one out single from Alex Presley, Nationals closer Henry Rodriguez would record two wild pitches advancing Presley to third. But one pitch later he blew a 99 mph fastball by Yamaico Navarro to bring Rod Barajas to the plate with 2 outs in the 9th. Barajas, who came into the game batting .133 without driving in a run all season, drilled a first pitch fastball over the left field fence to propel the Pirates to a 5-4 victory in thrilling fashion. After a strong outing from AJ Burnett (8.0 inn 2ER 10K), the Pirates look to take the series Wednesday night as Erik Bedard looks to continue his strong season against the Nationals Ross Detwiler.

Written by Rick Bauer