MLB: Washington 3, Pittsburgh 2

WASHINGTON, May 1 (UPI) -- Austin Kearns drove in the go-ahead run with a single in the eighth inning Thursday, giving the Washington Nationals a 3-2 victory over Pittsburgh.

The Nationals won their fourth straight and have captured seven of their last nine games.

Luis Ayala (1-1), who came on in the eighth in relief of starter Odalis Perez, worked one perfect inning to get the win. Jon Rauch threw only eight pitches in a 1-2-3 ninth to earn his sixth save.

John Grabow (1-1) gave up the eighth-inning run to take the loss. The Pirates have dropped five out of seven.

Wil Nieves singled in two runs for Washington in the second and the Pirates tied it on solo homers by Freddy Sanchez in the fourth and Ryan Doumit in the seventh.

Christian Guzman led off the eighth with a single and, after Ryan Zimmerman struck out, Nick Johnson was hit by a Grabow pitch. Lastings Milledge then struck out, after which Kearns drove Grabow's first pitch to right to score Guzman.