WASHINGTON (Interstat) — Daylen Lile homered twice and drove in four runs, Luis García Jr. added two home runs and the Washington Nationals defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates 9-5 on Friday night at Nationals Park in front of 30,331 fans.

The Nationals built a 5-1 lead early, blew it, then broke open a tie game with a two-run seventh inning and two more in the eighth to hand the Pirates their third loss in four games and improve their own record to 46-43. Pittsburgh fell to 44-45.

Washington left-hander Foster Griffin (9-2) allowed one earned run on four hits over five innings, striking out two and walking none to earn the victory. The Pirates’ Mitch Keller (6-6) took the loss after giving up eight runs—seven earned—on nine hits over six innings plus two batters in the seventh. Keller struck out two and walked one.

The game began with Pittsburgh threatening in the top of the first inning. Konnor Griffin led off with a sharp single to center field, then advanced to second on a fielding error by shortstop CJ Abrams after a fielder’s choice grounder by Bryan Reynolds. But Esmerlyn Valdez grounded into a double play to end the inning.

Washington responded immediately in the bottom half. García Jr. crushed a line-drive home run to right field, his 17th of the season, to give the Nationals a 1-0 lead. The inning ended with two quiet outs.

The Pirates tied the game in the top of the third. After two quick outs, Reynolds sent a fly ball over the center-field wall for his 12th home run of the year, making the score 1-1.

But the Nationals roared back in the bottom of the third. James Wood led off with a triple to right field. After García Jr. flied out, José Tena belted a two-run home run to center field, his fourth, scoring Wood to put Washington ahead 3-1. Abrams followed with a single, then Lile doubled to right-center to drive in Abrams and extend the lead to 4-1. Lile then scored on a double by Daylen Lile, making it 5-1. The inning ended on a groundout by Keibert Ruiz.

The Nationals added a run in the bottom of the second on Lile’s first home run of the night, a line drive to center field, his ninth of the season, to give Washington a 2-0 lead.

Pittsburgh chipped away in the top of the sixth. Valdez singled with one out, but the Pirates could not advance him. The score remained 5-1 heading into the seventh.

The Nationals stretched their lead in the bottom of the seventh. Nasim Nuñez reached on a bunt single. After James Wood lined out, García Jr. crushed his second home run of the game, a line drive to right field that cleared the fence for his 18th of the season, scoring Nuñez and making it 7-1.

Washington tacked on two more runs in the eighth. Dylan Crews drew a leadoff walk, then Lile launched his second home run of the game, a fly ball to right field, for his 10th of the season, extending the lead to 9-1.

The Pirates mounted a furious rally in the top of the ninth. Jared Triolo led off with a double to center field. Konnor Griffin grounded out, but Brandon Lowe doubled to right field, scoring Triolo. Bryan Reynolds followed with a double to center, scoring Lowe. Esmerlyn Valdez then doubled to right, scoring Reynolds. After Ryan O’Hearn grounded out, Nick Gonzales doubled to right, scoring Valdez to make it 9-5. Jake Mangum popped out to end the game.

Key performances included Washington’s bullpen duo of Clayton Beeter and Justin Lawrence, who combined to pitch a scoreless inning with one hit allowed and two strikeouts. Beeter worked a 1-2-3 eighth inning, and Lawrence got the final two outs in the ninth. For Pittsburgh, the top of the order struggled to string together hits until the ninth, when they collected five extra-base hits but ultimately fell short.

The Nationals outhit the Pirates 12-13, with four home runs to Pittsburgh’s one. Washington also benefited from two errors by Abrams, though the shortstop made a key play in the ninth to end the game.

The game took 2 hours, 54 minutes and was played under clear skies.

The Pirates now head into the second game of the series Saturday looking to even the set before returning home to host the Atlanta Braves for three games next week. The Nationals aim to continue their winning ways against the Pirates and then face the Houston Astros in a three-game series beginning Monday.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of Washington Nationals 6, Pittsburgh Pirates 5. Interstat’s ELO system had projected Washington with a 51.00 percent probability to win. Washington had been installed as a pregame favorite with a spread of -1.5. The total score of 14 went under the over/under line of 9.5.