The Washington Nationals finished up their weekend series of the Pittsburgh Pirates Sunday afternoon as the home team dominated their way to a three game sweep. Even though the Nats’ offense putting up 19 total runs over the three game series, the theme of the weekend proved to be shutdown starting pitching.
Rookie Joe Ross got things started Friday night, going 7.1 innings and allowing only one earned run on six hits. He struck out 11 batters and walked one. He became only the third rookie in Nationals history to record double digit strikeouts in a game, after John Lannan (2008) and Stephen Strasburg (2010).