Ian Desmond's hot streak continues in Nats' 9-3 win

PITTSBURGH - Ian Desmond continued his hot streak with a one-out single to right in the second. Jose Lobaton followed with a base knock to center, advancing Desmond all the way to third. Pirates starter A.J. Burnett then uncorked a wild pitch, allowing Desmond to race home safely for the game's first run.

Desmond is 9-for-17 with three homers and five RBIs since Monday.

The Pirates have one hit off Nationals starter Gio Gonzalez, though the left-hander has been helped by some stellar defense from Michael A. Taylor and Anthony Rendon so far.

Rendon is 0-for-2 with two strikeouts in his return from the disabled list after missing the Nationals' last 25 games.

Update: Yunel Escobar roped a double to right to start the fourth. Burnett's control issues continued when he hit Clint Robinson and Jose Lobaton to load the bases with one out.

After Matt den Dekker struck out, Gonzalez hit an 0-2 fastball up the middle and off the heel of Burnett's glove for an infield single, scoring Escobar. Taylor followed with a sharp line drive single to left. Robinson jogged home easily but Lobaton was nailed at the plate for the final out of the inning.

Update II: Bryce Harper drilled a one-out double off the left-center field wall in the fifth. Escobar followed with a single, and then Robinson drove Harper home on a base hit to left.

Gonzalez has held the Pirates scoreless through five innings, allowing just two hits with five strikeouts. He's thrown 68 pitches.

Update III: den Dekker legged out an infield single to lead off the sixth. Gonzalez dropped a sacrfice bunt to move den Dekker to second, who advanced to third on Taylor's third hit of the night.

A sacrifice fly to right plated den Dekker for the fifth run of the game.

After yielding only two hits through the first five innings, Gonzalez gave up three singles in the fifth, and Robinson booted a grounder from Gregory Polanco. Back-to-back RBI base knocks from Starling Marte and Andrew McCutchen ended Gonzalez's night.

Right-hander Aaron Barrett entered and quickly recorded a nice double play on a grounder from new Pirate Aramis Ramirez. But, Francisco Cervelli singled up the middle scoring Marte to close the gap to 5-3.

Gonzalez allowed three runs (one earned) on five hits with five strikeouts over five innings.

Update IV: Escobar drilled his second double of the game on a liner to the left field corner to lead off the seventh. Two batters later, Desmond smacked a changeup from Pirates right-hander Deolis Guerra over the left field wall for a two-run home run. Desmond has now homered in three straight games and four times overall this week.

Update V: Taylor crushed a first-pitch fastball from right-hander Arquimedes Caminero in the bullpen in left-center for a two-run homer in the eighth. It was Taylor's seventh homer of the year.

Update VI: Tanner Roark pitched two scoreless innings to finish off Pittsburgh.

The Nationals beat the Pirates 9-3.