Patrick Corbin strikes out 8, CJ Abrams homers twice as Nationals beat Pirates

The Pittsburgh Pirates couldn’t hit Patrick Corbin as the 34-year-old Washington Nationals left-hander showed why he is the last player left from their 2019 World Series champions.

The Pirates couldn’t keep CJ Abrams from hitting it out of the park as the 22-year-old shortstop flashed the potential that made him the centerpiece return of the Juan Soto trade.

Corbin recorded eight strikeouts, and Abrams hit a pair of home runs to lead the Nationals to a 6-2 win Monday night before 10,045 at PNC Park.

After giving up a combined 14 earned runs in his previous two starts, Corbin (10-13) abandoned his fastball early and leaned on a slider that generated 14 whiffs and nine called strikes to hold the Pirates to two runs on five hits and one walk in 6 2/3 innings.

“His off-speed stuff was good,” said Jared Triolo, who made his first career start at first base for the Pirates. “It was a lot of pitches on the corners and pitches we were swinging and missing at, so he definitely had his stuff.”

After sitting out Sunday to rest his knee after banging it sliding into a base, Abrams had his first career multi-homer game. He hit a two-run blast in the third and a solo shot in the seventh for Nos. 17 and 18.

“We’re talking about a guy that was one of the top prospects in the game and obviously was in a trade for one of the best players in the game,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “You’re looking at a kid that, even from the time we saw him early in the year, he just continues to get better. He’s got, what, 18 homers, plays shortstop really well, moves well, moves on the bases. He’s a good, young player.”

Pirates starter Andre Jackson (1-3) cruised through the first two innings before Ildemaro Vargas led off the third with a single to left. The Pirates nearly turned a double play, but Luis Garcia was ruled safe when Jackson’s foot was off first base.

That came back to hurt Jackson when Jacob Young grounded into another forceout at second, and Abrams smacked a 3-1 changeup 417 feet to right-center to give the Nationals a 2-0 lead.

“Obviously, when I’m grinding, you want those plays,” Jackson said. “But we’re putting guys in position to make most plays and, unfortunately, they were hitting it where they weren’t.”

The Pirates were sparked in the bottom of the third by Triolo. He led off by lining the ball off the pitcher’s mound and toward third for a single, stole second base, advanced to third on a Ke’Bryan Hayes groundout and scored on a Bryan Reynolds single to center to cut it to 2-1.

Reynolds advanced to second on Corbin’s wild pitch, then stole third base. Connor Joe drew a walk to put runners on the corners but was caught in a rundown. Corbin made the pickoff attempt to first baseman Dominic Smith, who threw to second where Vargas went home to get Reynolds out.

The Nationals extended their lead in the fourth when Keibert Ruiz hit a leadoff double and scored on a single to right by Joey Meneses to make it 3-1. Jackson walked Travis Blankenhorn and Vargas on full counts, and Meneses scored when Garcia grounded into a forceout at second for a 4-1 lead.

“It looked like the stuff wasn’t as sharp the second time through (the order),” Shelton said. “We had two opportunities with double plays to get and we didn’t turn either one of them, and both of them ended up resulting in a run. It just looked like the second time through he wasn’t as sharp.”

The Nationals extended their lead on a pair of homers. Dominic Smith sent Hunter Stratton’s 1-2 fastball 423 feet to center for a solo homer in the sixth to give the Nationals a 5-1 lead. Abrams went deep again in the seventh, lining Cody Bolton’s full-count fastball 383 feet over the Clemente Wall in right.

Corbin kept the Pirates without an extra-base hit until the seventh, when Miguel Andujar hit a leadoff double down the right-field line and score on Ji Hwan Bae’s two-out double to right to cut it to 6-2.

“These are outings you learn from,” Jackson said. “Obviously, when it’s going good, you don’t really have to make adjustments. I’m grinding right now a little bit, and it’s September and it’s been a long year. But that’s something I can learn from. When you’re in those outings and you got guys on base and don’t have your best stuff, you still gotta make pitches. I still gotta give these guys a chance to win the game and didn’t do that.”