Jackson done after seven strong (Nats come back in ninth)

Outside of the two long solo homers allowed by Edwin Jackson tonight, he really delivered a strong outing. The Nationals starter went seven innings, allowing just the two solo shots to Andrew McCutchen and Garrett Jones in the fourth inning. He gave up just three Pirates hits, walked one and struck out five. The pitches to McCutchen and Jones were both demolished, but little else tonight was hit hard by Pirates hitters. Unfortunately for Jackson, he finds himself in a tie game as he watches the rest of tonight's action from the dugout. The Nats and Pirates are tied 2-2 in the eighth, and neither team has scored since the fourth. Wilson Ramos got the Nats on the board in the third with a solo homer to right-center, and Rick Ankiel drove in a run with a two-out single in the fourth, plating Bryce Harper. Harper doubled leading off the fourth inning, giving him his sixth double in nine major league games. Impressive. Ryan Zimmerman is 0-for-3 in his first game back from the DL, while Adam LaRoche is 1-for-2 with a walk in his return after missing time with an oblique injury. Danny Espinosa, meanwhile, is 0-for-3 with two more strikeouts. He's now hitting .188 on the season and has 37 strikeouts in 101 at-bats. Update: The Pirates took a late lead in this one, scratching across an eighth-inning run on a walk, fielding error by Ian Desmond and sacrifice fly off the bat of Neil Walker. It's 3-2 Pittsburgh, and just like that, the Nats are three outs from a road defeat. Update II: They didn't need three outs. Adam LaRoche got the job done with no one retired in the ninth. LaRoche hit a two-run homer to center in the ninth, giving the Nats a 4-3 lead. Now Henry Rodriguez will warm, and Washington will try and close another exciting one-run game out.