WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Luis Garc\u00eda Jr. and Daylen Lile each homered twice, and Jos\u00e9 Tena also went deep for Washington as the Nationals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 9-5 on Friday night.<\/p>\n
Foster Griffin (9-2) allowed a run and four hits in five innings, lowering his ERA to 2.87 for the Nationals. Washington has won five of six.<\/p>\n
Bryan Reynolds homered for Pittsburgh. Mitch Keller (6-6) allowed five runs and eight hits in six innings.<\/p>\n
The temperature at game time was 100 degrees, and the ball was certainly carrying. Garc\u00eda opened the scoring in the first with his 17th homer of the season, a solo shot to right. An inning later, Lile hit a 417-foot drive to center to make it 2-0.<\/p>\n
Reynolds\u2019 solo homer to center in the third went 426 feet to get the Pirates on the board, but after James Wood led off the bottom half with a triple, Tena hit a two-run shot \u2014 also to center \u2014 that went 434 feet.<\/p>\n
Lile\u2019s RBI double later that inning made it 5-1.<\/p>\n
Garc\u00eda connected again in the seventh, hitting a two-run shot off reliever Isaac Mattson. Lile\u2019s second homer was a two-run drive in the eighth.<\/p>\n
Brandon Lowe, Reynolds and Esmerlyn Valdez hit consecutive RBI doubles in the ninth for the Pirates, and Nick Gonzales added another one an out later.<\/p>\n
Griffin improved to 5-0 in his last nine starts, with the Nationals going 8-1 in those games. He\u2019s allowed one run or fewer in six straight outings, although he had only two strikeouts Friday, his fewest since April 11.<\/p>\n
Up next<\/p>\n
Zack Littell (7-6, 5.29 ERA) starts for Washington against Pittsburgh\u2019s Braxton Ashcraft (8-3, 3.33) on Saturday in a July 4 game set to start at 11:05 a.m.<\/p>\n
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