With a heavy heart, Jackson proud to pitch well in his final start

Nationals right-hander Edwin Jackson arrived Thursday night for his start against the Pirates having allowed 22 earned runs in his last four starts, losing three of those games.

So for Jackson to give the Nats six solid innings and allowing only two runs on four hits while striking out seven was a nice way to end the regular season.

The Nats were able to win the game in walk-off fashion 5-4 thanks to a clutch bottom of the ninth single down the right field line by Alejandro De Aza.

The win was credited to Sean Doolittle, but Jackson came away from the start with a positive feeling. He said he wanted to pitch well not only for himself, but also his grandmother, Julia, had passed away earlier this week.

"It was one of those games where I was kind of having an emotional game. Grandma just passed a few days ago," Jackson said. "I just wanted to go out and have fun, end of the season, not put too much pressure on myself. Go out and let go and just pitch how I know I can pitch. It was a big difference today than the last few games. Just kind of went out there with a nothing-to-lose attitude and leave it on the field."

Jackson got to the third inning before the Pirates put together a rally to take the lead. With the Nats up 1-0 and one away, Jackson walked Max Moroff.

Then with two outs, Chris Bostick contributed a RBI double and Starling Marte followed with a run-scoring single. But Jackson forced Andrew McCutchen into a fly ball out to right field to end the inning.

The Nats tied the game at 2-2 in the bottom of the third on a RBI groundout by Adam Lind.

Jackson was able to extend for three more innings, allowing just one hit and striking out four the rest of his start.

"Yes, he did and he threw the ball great tonight," said manager Dusty Baker. "Other than that walk to the eighth hitter, which started their rally, he threw the ball well tonight."

Jackson was proud of the way he finished his outing, and ultimately, how his season worked out after starting the year with the Orioles. With the Nats losing Joe Ross to Tommy John, Jackson arrived and earned five wins for the Nats in 13 starts.

"I think it was important," Jackson said of his finish. "Like I said I've always known what I can do. The past three before this have been kind of terrible. So just to end it on a good note and end it on a start where something I can walk off the field in, be satisfied with to end the season, kind of big for me, given the situation, especially.

"That's the game of baseball. Like I said after the last start, you can't give in. You can't give in when things get tougher. You can fold, or you can fight. If I was to folder, I wouldn't be here amongst you guys right now. I'd probably be home a long time ago, given everything that I've been through."

Three games remain in the season, so Jackson would not start again. But does Baker think that Jackson has shown enough value to earn a spot on the playoff roster? The Nats begin the National League Division Series October 6. He is 3-6 with a 6.00 ERA in 11 games (10 starts) in his career against the Cubs.

"We still haven't discussed it yet," Baker said of the post season roster. "We got a few days before we have to announce it and so we've semi discussed it but we haven't really, really discussed it yet."

Jackson isn't worried about the roster for the Cubs series, he is just pleased to take this step after a rough couple of starts.

"That's the last thing on my mind," Jackson said. "Like I said with the situation, and all that I've been dealing with the past week playoff rosters been the last thing on his mind. It's one of those things I can't worry about anyways. The main thing for me is to go out and pitch like I know I can pitch and let everything else take care of itself."

What is on his mind is what his six innings tonight. What this start did for the Jackson family, and what grandmother Julia would have thought of his pitching, not allowing Pittsburgh to run away with the game.

"She was (a big baseball fan)," Jackson said of his grandmother. "Matter of fact, she'd probably got the baseball package just to watch games. That made tonight's start a little bit more special to give the family something positive to deal with and something as far as myself as well, just to know she's in heaven looking down and finish up like this."