PITTSBURGH — The first half of the Pirates’ game Thursday afternoon against the Washington Nationals was a clean, scoreless pitchers' duel. The second half was anything but.

The Nationals beat the Pirates, 8-7, in 10 innings at PNC Park. Each team scored four runs in the fifth, combining for 15 total runs in the final six innings. The Pirates committed four errors.

James Wood’s single to right off of Dennis Santana, scoring the automatic runner, was the difference. With the win, the Nationals earned a split of the four-game series.

Braxton Ashcraft and lefty Foster Griffin matched zeroes through four innings until both unraveled in the fifth.

Against the bottom of the order, Ashcraft loaded the bases with a hit batter, a double and a walk, then struck out Wood. Ashcraft had a shot to get away with it with Luis Garcia Jr.’s soft-hit grounder to Konnor Griffin, but speedy Nasim Nunez beat Griffin to second and broke up the double play by sliding through second base.

As Griffin tried to throw to first, Nunez made contact and Griffin spiked the ball into right field, allowing all three runs to score. Ashcraft then tried to pick Garcia off of second as Garcia broke for third, but his throw went into center and allowed Garcia to score.

But the Pirates got the runs back immediately. After singles from Billy Cook and Jake Mangum, Oneil Cruz doubled home Cook before Marcell Ozuna followed with a three-run blast for his first homer of the year. Ozuna’s homer traveled 423 feet down the left-field line and bounced off the third level of the rotunda.

The Pirates tacked on two more in the sixth with an RBI triple from Konnor Griffin, the first triple of his career, and an RBI single from Nick Gonzales.

Yohan Ramirez gave it back in the seventh. The Nationals loaded the bases with two outs on a single, a double and a CJ Abrams intentional walk. Ramirez went ahead 0-2 against Jacob Young, then drilled him with a fastball to tie the game. A wild pitch on a two-strike sweeper brought in the go-ahead run.

The Pirates tied it in the ninth on Brandon Lowe’s two-out, bases-loaded grounder against Clayton Beeter but left the bases loaded.

… Mangum grounded into a double play to end it. The Pirates had runners on the corners, but the speedy Mangum’s grounder to Abrams was near second and to the only place Abrams could double him up.

Ashcraft pitched 5 2/3 innings, allowing five runs on five hits and two walks. Just two of the runs were earned. He struck out seven.

Evan Sisk and Ramirez allowed runs, while Justin Lawrence needed to work out of a no outs, bases-loaded jam after a Gonzales error. The Pirates continue to look for consistent middle relief ahead of Gregory Soto, Isaac Mattson and Santana.

The Pirates had 15 hits and left fewer runners on than the Nationals, but the errors proved hard to overcome.

Mangum reached in four plate appearances, going 3 for 5 with three singles and a walk. He scored twice.

While Jorbit Vivas scored three runs, Abrams continued to dominate the Pirates. Abrams went 1 for 2 but reached four times for the second consecutive game.

The Pirates remain home for a three-game homestand against the Tampa Bay Rays, starting Friday night at 6:40 p.m. Bubba Chandler (0-1, 3.86 ERA) will start against Rays right-hander Nick Martinez (0-0, 2.16) as the Pirates debut their City Connect uniforms.