Drese struggles in second Nats start

PITTSBURGH -- Washington Nationals general manager Jim Bowden wondered aloud in the dugout before Tuesday's game how the Texas Rangers could have given up on Ryan Drese, their Opening Day starter, who won 14 games and logged 207 2/3 innings last season.
After Texas waived Drese two weeks ago, the Nationals nabbed him and the 29-year-old came through with eight innings of two-hit shutout ball in his Washington debut, a 1-0 victory over the Angels last Wednesday.

Drese's second start, however, was not as successful.

In fact, it was not even close. Drese lasted only three-plus innings and allowed five earned runs on eight hits and two walks in an 11-4 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates.

"He made it look so easy [last week]," Nationals manager Frank Robinson said. "He kept the ball down. Tonight, he kept the ball down in the first inning, but there were three ground balls hit but not at people. If those are hit right at somebody, maybe it would have made a difference in the game."

Brian Schneider and Jose Guillen each had two hits, and Guillen added two RBIs and Brad Wilkerson scored three runs in a losing cause for the Nationals, who fell to 4-4 on a nine-game road trip that concludes Wednesday afternoon in Pittsburgh.

"It was a tough night," Robinson said. "You will not win too many games playing like that."

Things started off well enough for Washington, as Wilkerson led off the game with a home run for the first time this season. He took a 3-2 pitch into the right-center-field seats, his fourth, off Pirates starter Oliver Perez (6-5).

But the Pirates took the lead in the bottom of the inning, when Daryle Ward's groundout scored Bobby Hill, and Jose Castillo's single drove in Jason Bay.

"When you score, you like your pitching to shut the other club down," Robinson said. "You get a chance to get an edge and some momentum and then what happens is you give it to the other guys, and that kind of picks them up."

The clubs traded leads again in the third inning. In the top of the frame, Guillen doubled home Wilkerson and Marlon Byrd to give Washington a 3-2 advantage. But back-to-back doubles by Hill and Bay tied the game at 3 in the bottom of the inning, and two groundouts later, Bay scored to put Pittsburgh back on top, 4-3.

"I was making my pitches and getting groundballs," Drese (5-7) said. "But I was really upset I hung two curveballs for doubles in the third inning. Those were the only two bad pitches I made tonight."

Jack Wilson ended Drese's night with a double to lead off the fourth. Wilson scored two batters later on a Matt Lawton groundout.

"We were in the game all night," Drese said. "They just fought hard. It was a grind out there."

Washington loaded the bases with one out in the seventh but settled for only one run -- a Vinny Castilla sacrifice fly to score Wilkerson that pulled the Nationals to within one run, 5-4.

But Lawton's two-run homer in the bottom of the inning gave the Pirates insurance. Pittsburgh looked to add another run, but Hill was thrown out at home on Castillo's fly ball to center. Schneider received a throw that was slightly high from Wilkerson, but home plate umpire Dana DeMuth ruled Hill did not get under the catcher's tag.

Pittsburgh manager Lloyd McClendon came out to argue the call and was ejected for the third time this season after kicking dirt over home plate.

The contested play at the plate proved inconsequential for Pittsburgh, when doubles by Lawton and Ward pushed four more across in the eighth.

"We lost. They played better than us," Guillen said. "Give those guys credit. They swung the bats well today.

"We were not able to do things like move runners over and sometimes [we] couldn't make good pitches. But [Pittsburgh] came up with some outstanding hitting, and they pitched well enough to win the ballgame."

Source: http://washington.nationals.mlb.com/