Division lead shrinks after Nats drop series to Pirates

PITTSBURGH - A solo home run from rookie Michael A. Taylor was all the offensive the Nationals managed as they dropped the series with today's 3-1 loss to the Pirates.

After Taylor's homer, right-hander Gerrit Cole retired 11 straight Nationals until a double from Clint Robinson in the seventh. Ian Desmond followed with a single to give the Nats runners at the corners with one out, trailing by two. But Wilson Ramos hit a tailor-made double play grounder to end the threat.

Anthony Rendon received rest and didn't start a day after returning from the disabled list. However, Rendon delivered a pinch-hit single to center in the eighth. Danny Espinosa then lined a base knock to left, giving the Nats two on with two outs for Bryce Harper.

Pirates manager Clint Hurdle opted to end Cole's afternoon, turning to left-hander Tony Watson to match up with Harper. Before the inning, Hurdle also made a key defensive move, taking out first baseman Pedro Alvarez in favor of Sean Rodriguez.

Harper smoked a sharp grounder, which appeared headed through the hole into right field until Rodriguez made a spectacular diving stop. Harper raced down the line, sliding headfirst into the bag, but Rodriguez's flip to Watson beat Harper by a hair to end the inning.

"I was trying to have another good (at-bat) against (Watson) and put a ball through the hole or hit something to the gap and score those runs," Harper said. "I wish they wouldn't have made that defensive change. I think Pedro probably vacates back to the bag and the ball is through the hole.

"Sean made a great play on that play and I tip my cap. I don't know how many times we got robbed this series, but it's part of the game"

Nationals rookie right-hander Joe Ross turned in another solid performance in a losing effort. The 22-year-old allowed three runs on five hits with one walk, one hit batter and seven strikeouts.

"I thought Joe threw well enough to win, definitely," Harper said. "But, we just couldn't get it going."

"He kept us in the game and gave us a chance," manager Matt Williams added.

The Pirates answered Taylor's homer with two runs in the bottom of the third. With Chris Stewart on second, Gregory Polanco drilled a ball up the middle.

"It barely missed me, I think," Ross said after appearing to get a glove on it. "He hit that ball hard."

Taylor barehanded the ball and fired home, but the one-hop throw was a little up the line and Ramos wasn't able to stop it.

"We've got to knock that one down though," Williams said. "Keep that ball from getting to the backstop."

Not only did Stewart cross the plate safely, but Polanco ended up advancing to third, where he scored easily from moments later on Andrew McCutchen's RBI single to give the Pirates the lead they never relinquished.

"Not a great throw," Taylor said. "I might have been a little too aggressive in that situation. Who knows, maybe if I make a better throw we have a chance at him."

The Mets beat the Dodgers 3-2 in 10 innings to pull within two games of the Nationals in the National League East. Meanwhile, Washington has dropped six of ten since the All-Star break, and the Nats are staring at 20 consecutive days of games after Monday's off-day.

"Sometimes the ball doesn't roll your way," Harper said. "We've run into a couple great pitchers. I don't know of anybody that has run into those type of guys back-to-back-to-back all year.

"We're grinding it out right now and we're getting some guys back this week that we're very excited about. So we'll see how it goes. We'll get going. We're a great team. We just gotta keep playing hard and keep playing well. We're still in first place, so that's all that matters."

Williams declined to give an exact day when Jayson Werth and Ryan Zimmerman will be activated from the DL, but the two are expected to rejoin the Nationals sometime during their upcoming series in Miami.