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Bascik, Nationals end slumps in win over Pirates

Jul 1, 2007 - 10:44 PM PITTSBURGH (Ticker) -- Mike Bacsik won for the first time in more than a month and Jesus Flores hit his first major league home run as the Washington Nationals halted a five-game losing streak with a 3-2 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday.

Bacsik (2-5), who had not won since May 24 and had seen the Nationals lose his six starts since then, yielded only two runs - one earned - and five hits in six-plus innings. The lefthander also struck out two and walked one.

Robert Fick had an RBI and scored a run and Dmitri Young added two hits for Washington, which had lost six of seven and 11 of 14 coming into the contest.

"There's a book a read to my little daughter she likes," Bacsik said. "One of the lines in there says something to the effect of, 'If you never felt bad, you wouldn't know what it's like to feel good.' And there's been a quiet a few outings lately, and for this team where we haven't felt good lately.

"We've felt bad, but it just lets you know how good it feels to go out there compete and win a game."

Adam LaRoche had three hits and scored a run for Pittsburgh, which was seeking its first sweep since taking three from the Houston Astros from April 24-26.

With Nationals closer Chad Cordero attempting to nail down the one-run victory, LaRoche led off the ninth inning with a single. However, Cordero struck out Jose Castillo and got Ronny Paulino to ground into a game-ending double play for his 14th save.

"It's always good to get a win," said Washington manager Manny Acta, who presided over a closed-door meeting in the clubhouse after Saturday night's loss. "I'm not relating the win to our pep-talk last night. Mike Bacsik deserves all the credit. He gave us an outstanding outing and our bullpen came through in a very tough situation with only a one-run lead."

Washington, which had managed just seven runs during the losing streak, collected the game's first run in the fourth, but could have done a lot more damage.

The Nationals started off the inning with three consecutive hits by Young, Austin Kearns and Felipe Lopez to load the bases against Paul Maholm (4-11). Fick followed with an RBI groundout to first, but Flores and Bacsik also hit into fielder's choices to prevent anymore scoring.

Washington also had loaded the bases in the third without managing to score.

The 22-year-old Flores connected on his memorable homer just over the wall in left field in the sixth directly after a single by Fick, making it 3-0. It was the rookie's 63rd career at-bat in his 34th game.

"I feel happy about it," Flores said. "It felt great to come through and it was great to win, too."

After the Pirates loaded the bases with nobody out in the seventh on a single by LaRoche, a double by Castillo and an throwing error by Bacsik that allowed Paulino to reach, the lefthander was lifted in favor of Luis Ayala.

Ayala gave up sacrifice flies to Jack Wilson and pinch-hitter Ryan Doumit to make it 3-2, but got pinch-hitter Nate McLouth to ground out to end the inning.

"I think what today boils down to is the fact we didn't have enough offense," Pirates manager Jim Tracy said. "And as a result of that, we made one bad pitch and had to pay for it."

Jon Rauch pitched a perfect eighth before turning it over to Cordero.

Maholm allowed three runs and nine hits in seven innings, walking one and striking out five, as he lost for the sixth time in his last seven home starts.

Despite allowing three runs or less for the second straight time, Maholm could not shake the thought of him giving up the home run to Flores.

"One stupid pitch, and he hit a home run and it costs us a game," Maholm said. "There's positives, but it's still hard to take whenever you know that you know that one pitch changed the whole game, and you know that it probably wasn't the right pitch in the situation. It's one of those things you learn from."