5. Ross vs the Pirates: Joe Ross returned to the majors last week, in Stephen Strasburg's spot in the rotation, with a solid 6 u2153-inning outing against the New York Mets in which he gave up four hits and three runs, two earned in what ended up a 7-2 loss to Washington's NL East rivals. Ross gave up just one run on three hits in the first six innings of work, but ran into trouble in the seventh.
A single and an error put two runners on, and after the Nationals' 22-year-old rookie right-hander recorded the first out of the frame, Nats' skipper Matt Williams went to the bullpen for Aaron Barrett, who gave up a two-run single, allowing both of the runners he inherited to score.