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Redding helps Nationals top Pirates

May 4, 2008 - 9:40 PM By Rich Dubroff PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

WASHINGTON (Ticker) -- Tim Redding pitched 6 1/3 effective innings to lead the Washington Nationals to a 5-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday.

Nick Johnson, Austin Kearns and Felipe Lopez each drove in a run for Washington, which won a third straight series for the first time since June 2-11, 2006.

Redding (4-2) allowed one run and six hits with five strikeouts. The righthander picked up his first win in three starts and helped the Nationals finish 8-3 on their homestand.

"It's encouraging. We had a tremendous homestand," Washington manager Manny Acta said. "We won three series, and that's great."

"Warming up, I didn't feel like I had anything special but I didn't feel I was terrible," Redding said. "I was able to go out there, get ahead in the count early and when I got ahead, put them away or get an out. That's the key for me."

Washington backed Redding with a 13-hit attack. In the first, Cristian Guzman singled with one out off Pirates starter Ian Snell (2-2). After Snell hit Lastings Milledge, Johnson singled to left to score Guzman. Milledge then scored on a single by Kearns for a 2-0 lead.

Aaron Boone, who started at third base in place of Ryan Zimmerman, hit a leadoff home run in the fourth inning - his first since June 6 - to give the Nationals a 3-0 lead.

Zimmerman had his streak of 205 consecutive games played come to an end. It was the second-longest active streak in the major leagues behind Atlanta's Jeff Francoeur, who has played in 356 straight games.

"To have a hand in a victory the way we're starting to play baseball is nice," Boone said.

Adam LaRoche's second home run of the season with one out in the fifth cut Washington's lead to 3-1. LaRoche had three hits, including a run-scoring single in the ninth.

Pittsburgh, which has lost seven of its last 10, threatened in the seventh when Xavier Nady singled and LaRoche doubled.

However, Saul Rivera came in and retired Jose Bautista and Doug Mientkiewicz on groundouts to end the threat.

"It didn't go unnoticed," Acta said. "How huge was that? That was the game right there."

The Nationals padded their lead with Lopez's RBI single in the seventh and a run-scoring double by Wily Mo Pena in the eighth that made it 5-1.

"It's a lot to ask each day to play from behind," Russell said. "It puts a lot of pressure on the offense when you have to play from behind. It wouldn't hurt playing with a lead more often."

Snell allowed four runs and 10 hits in seven-plus innings.

"I just can't find a rhythm," Snell said. "I'm not lying. It's like a nightmare. I'm trying my (hardest). I'm keeping the team in the game even though I don't have my great stuff."