The Pirates are coming into this game with a 5-1 record this season as they have been on fire to start the season. They opened the season with a sweep over the Marlins and then they won the 1st game of this series against the Nationals as well, but now they are coming off of their 1st loss of the season. They are coming off of a 5-3 loss but their offense has been very good to start the season as they have scored at least 6 runs in 5 of their 6 games as well as scoring at least 8 runs in 3 of their last 4 games. They are going up against a Nationals team that is 2-3 this season and they have not scored more than 5 runs in each of their last 3 games which is not awful, but they will struggle to keep up with this hot Pirates offense. Martín Pérez is starting for the Pirates here and he is 0-0 with a 2.08 ERA this season. He struggled a lot last season after having a great season 2 years ago, but he will be hungry to have a bounce back season with a fresh start on a new team. He pitched very well in Spring Training as he was 1-0 with a 0.60 ERA, allowing just 1 earned run in 15 innings. He continued that into his 1st start as well as he allowed just 1 earned run in 4 innings pitched against the Marlins. Josiah Gray is starting for the Nationals here and he is 0-1 with a 15.75 ERA this season. He was awful in Spring Training as he was 1-2 with a 6.21 ERA, allowing 12 earned runs in a little over 16 innings pitched. He continued that poor performance into his 1st start of the season as he allowed 7 earned runs in 4 innings pitched against the Reds. The Pirates offense has been very hot to start the season and they are going to score runs in this game with the way Gray has been pitching along with the Nationals bullpen as well. Perez has been much better in his starts this year and he is trying to have a bounce back season as well, he will keep the Nats off the board here as the bullpen and Pirates offense does the rest for them. The Pirates will win this game.