Worth noting

• Pedro Alvarez started Monday night's game without a hit in his previous four games. His only hitless rut of the season came in the first week, when he was hitless in seven straight [including six starts] from April 4-10. Alvarez was 0-for-24 in that stretch.

• Bullpen excellence is not exactly a one-year phenomenon in Pittsburgh. Even though many of the faces have changed, since the start of the 2012 season the Pirates are 119-2 when taking a lead into the ninth.

• Entering Monday's tilt, Andrew McCutchen had capitalized on Nationals pitching for a .533 average (16-for-30) in his last eight games in Washington.