PITTSBURGH (Interstat) — Carmen Mlodzinski delivered a career-best performance out of the bullpen, and two first-inning runs proved sufficient as the Pittsburgh Pirates blanked the Washington Nationals 2-0 on Wednesday night at PNC Park.

A crowd of 11,244 watched the Pirates secure their 10th victory in 14 games, improving to 11-7. Washington fell to 8-10.

The game’s decisive moment arrived swiftly. After Nationals starter Jake Irvin struck out the first two Pirates batters in the bottom of the first, the inning unraveled. Bryan Reynolds worked a walk and scored when Ryan O’Hearn singled and Marcell Ozuna followed with an RBI line drive to right field. Nick Gonzales then drove in O’Hearn with a single through the left side, staking Pittsburgh to a 2-0 lead before many fans had settled into their seats.

That early outburst stood as the entirety of the game’s offense. Irvin settled in after the rocky first, completing five innings and allowing four hits and two runs while striking out five. He took the loss, falling to 1-2.

The story of the night, however, was Pittsburgh’s pitching staff, which combined on a five-hit shutout, the team’s second in six days. Following opener Mason Montgomery’s scoreless first inning, Mlodzinski entered and dominated. The right-hander twirled six innings of two-hit ball, walking two and striking out five to earn his first win of the season and lower his ERA to 1.77.

Mlodzinski’s outing was his longest and most effective of the young season, building on scoreless relief appearances against Baltimore and Chicago. He efficiently navigated the Washington lineup, allowing only a double to CJ Abrams in the sixth and a single to Jorbit Vivas in the fifth. The Nationals never advanced a runner past second base against him.

Washington’s best scoring chance came in the fifth, but it died on the basepaths. After Vivas singled and Keibert Ruiz reached on a fielder’s choice, Luis García Jr. walked to put two on with one out. Mlodzinski induced a sharp flyout from James Wood and a forceout from Curtis Mead to end the threat.

The Pirates’ bullpen preserved the slim lead with precision. Gregory Soto struck out two in a perfect eighth inning, and Dennis Santana worked a 1-2-3 ninth for his second save, sealing the victory in a brisk 2 hours, 13 minutes.

Offensively, the Pirates managed just five hits but made two of them count in the first. O’Hearn led the way with a 3-for-4 performance, while Ozuna and Gonzales provided the crucial run-scoring hits. Abrams was a bright spot for Washington, reaching base three times via a double and two hit-by-pitches.

The result marked a stark contrast to the first two games of the series, a split that featured a 16-5 Pirates rout and a 5-4 Nationals comeback win. It also defied the pregame projections from Interstat, which had forecast a higher-scoring affair with a 59.8% probability of a Pittsburgh victory.

The Nationals, who have lost six of their last nine, will look to salvage a series split in the finale on Thursday afternoon. Pittsburgh, riding a wave of strong pitching, will aim for its third series win in its last four sets before welcoming the Tampa Bay Rays for a weekend series.