PITTSBURGH — Gerrit Cole spent the last six weeks stringing together dominant performance after dominant performance with little to show for it, thanks to a Pittsburgh Pirates offense that always seemed to sputter whenever their ace’s turn in the rotation came up.

Yet Cole tried to stay upbeat, stressing that if he kept doing his job eventually the lineup would, too. Eventually turned into Wednesday night, when Cole shut down the best offense in the majors and the Pirates broke out late in a 6-1 victory over the Washington Nationals.

Cole (2-4) allowed one run on three hits, walked two and struck out three in seven efficient innings to win for the first time in a month. Josh Bell hit a three-run homer off Jacob Turner (2-2) in the sixth and Andrew McCutchen went 2 for 4 with two RBIs and two stolen bases as Pittsburgh slowed the National League’s hottest team.

“We hung in there, played really good defense and kept them off the board so we could strike first,” Cole said. “Josh with the big swing and Andrew with the dagger late. The team played a great game.”

Washington came in leading the majors in runs, batting average and doubles but couldn’t get it going against Cole and two relievers. The Nationals’ three hits were a season low. Bryce Harper and Ryan Zimmerman, who began the day with the top two batting averages in the majors, combined to go 0 for 8.

“If you start staring at the batting averages and the names on the back of the jerseys, it can be a little overwhelming,” Cole said. “But you just have to stick with the process and control what you can control.”

Washington managed just one hit — a bloop single by Jose Lobaton in the third — and three baserunners through the first six innings as Cole kept them off balance. He struck out three and walked two, his lone hiccup coming on Brian Goodwin’s RBI double in the seventh.

“He had everything working tonight and it was the fifth or sixth inning before we kind of went ‘what happened?”’ Washington manager Dusty Baker said of Cole.

Turner pitched into the sixth inning in the majors for just the second time since 2014, and Pittsburgh finally got going. John Jaso walked leading off the sixth and Turner hit David Freese with one out. Bell drove a 3-1 offering 398 feet for his eighth homer, the most by a rookie in the National League. Turner gave up three runs on four hits with four walks and a strikeout in 5 1/3 innings.

“Obviously, Bell hit the home run, everybody is going to look at that,” Turner said. “How those guys got on base, stuff like that can’t happen.”