Vargas' two-run double in the ninth rallies Nationals past Pirates 8-6 for doubleheader sweep

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Ildemaro Vargas hit a two-run double off Aroldis Chapman in Washington's four-run ninth inning, and the Nationals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 8-6 on Saturday night for a doubleheader sweep.

The Nationals won 5-3 in the first game. DJ Herz pitched five hitless innings and fellow rookie Dylan Crews homered.

Washington put together a two-out rally against Chapman (5-5) in the second game. James Wood singled in Drew Millas to get the Nationals within one.

With runners on second and third, Vargas was sent up to hit for Luis García Jr. With the Nationals down to their last strike, Vargas hit a sinking liner into right field that bounced off the glove of a diving Connor Joe.

Vargas scored on Keibert Ruiz's double as Chapman blew his fifth save in 11 chances this season.

Robert Garcia (3-5) got two outs for the win, and Kyle Finnegan notched his second save of the day and 36th of the season by working a 1-2-3 ninth.

Rookie Andres Chaparro had three hits, including his fourth homer, and three RBIs for the Nationals, who won for the sixth time in eight games. Ruiz also had three hits.

Isiah Kiner-Falefa had three hits for Pittsburgh, including a tiebreaking single in the eighth inning. Bryan Reynolds then made it 6-4 when he drove in Joey Bart with a fielder’s choice.

Pirates starter Mitch Keller pitched six innings of two-run ball. He struck out eight and walked none.

Keller was 1-4 with a 7.46 ERA in his previous five starts.

Nationals rookie left-hander Mitchell Parker was touched for four runs and six hits in 3 1/3 innings.

Herz (3-7) was lifted after 87 pitches in the opener. The left-hander struck out five and walked three in his first win since Aug. 3.

Manager Dave Martinez did not want to push Herz any further. Herz has thrown a combined 114 1/3 innings between the majors and minors this season, a career-high for the 23-year-old.

“I totally understand, and I agree with it,” Herz said of being removed from the game. “I just keep pitching as long as they keep me out there and then we go from there. I understand what they are doing.”

Crews hit a solo drive in the second against Luis Ortiz (6-5) for his third homer since being called up from Triple-A Rochester last month. The No. 2 pick in last year’s amateur draft also hit a run-scoring double in a two-run sixth that lifted the Nationals to a 4-0 lead.

“(Ortiz) obviously has a great arm and you’ve got to beat him to the fastball,” said Crews, who entered the day in a 2-for-16 slump. “That what I was trying to do, and it felt good. It felt like, as a team, we were getting barrels on the ball.”

Garcia replaced Herz and retired five straight batters before Nick Gonzales grounded a single into center field with two outs in the seventh to end the no-hit bid.

Finnegan pitched a shaky ninth inning. Gonzales hit an RBI single with one out to draw the Pirates to 5-3, but Bryan De La Cruz grounded into a game-ending double play with the bases loaded.

Ortiz allowed four runs — three earned — and six hits in 5 2/3 innings. Crews’ homer snapped Ortiz’s streak of 16 scoreless innings.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Nationals: RHP Trevor Williams (strained right forearm flexor) will make a rehab start on Tuesday for Double-A Harrisburg. Williams is expected to go four innings and throw 65-70 pitches.

Pirates: C Bart (strained left hamstring) was activated from the 10-day IL after being out since Aug. 26. OF Billy McKinney was designated for assignment to open a roster spot.

UP NEXT

The four-game series concludes on Sunday with Nationals LHP Patrick Corbin (5-12, 5.41 ERA) opposing Pirates rookie RHP Jared Jones (5-7, 3.91 ERA).

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

Pittsburgh Pirates' Isiah Kiner-Falefa (7) singles off Washington Nationals relief pitcher Jacob Barnes, driving in a run, during the eighth inning of the second baseball game of a doubleheader in Pittsburgh, Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Washington Nationals' Andrés Chaparro, right, celebrates with Luis García Jr. (2) as he returns to the dugout after hitting a two-run home run off Pittsburgh Pirates relief pitcher Ryan Borucki during the seventh inning of the second baseball game of a doubleheader in Pittsburgh, Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Washington Nationals' Ildemaro Vargas doubles to right field off Pittsburgh Pirates relief pitcher Aroldis Chapman, driving in two runs, during the ninth inning of the second baseball game of a doubleheader in Pittsburgh, Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Washington Nationals' Jacob Young, right, celebrates with James Wood (29) and Keibert Ruiz (20) after scoring the second of two runs on a double by Ildemaro Vargas off Pittsburgh Pirates relief pitcher Aroldis Chapman during the ninth inning of the second baseball game of a doubleheader in Pittsburgh, Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Luis L. Ortiz, right, hands the ball to manager Derek Shelton, left, during the sixth inning of the first baseball game of a split doubleheader against the Washington Nationals in Pittsburgh, Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Pittsburgh Pirates' Rowdy Tellez (44) celebrates with Nick Gonzales after hitting a two-run home run off Washington Nationals relief pitcher Jacob Barnes during the seventh inning of the first baseball game of a split doubleheader in Pittsburgh, Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Washington Nationals' Dylan Crews (3) celebrates with Luis García Jr. after getting the final out of the first baseball game of a split doubleheader against the Pittsburgh Pirates in Pittsburgh, Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Washington Nationals starting pitcher DJ Herz delivers during the first inning of the first baseball game of a doubleheader against the Pittsburgh Pirates in Pittsburgh, Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump claimed without evidence Monday that President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris' comments that he is a threat to democracy had inspired the latest apparent attempt on his life, despite his own long history of inflammatory campaign rhetoric and advocacy for jailing or prosecuting his political enemies.

With the election now just 50 days away and early ballots already being mailed out in some places, this year’s presidential campaign was among the most turbulent in American history even before Sunday’s apparent assassination attempt. Trump was safe after the incident in Florida and praised the Secret Service for protecting him but didn't shy away from blaming his opponents.

“Their rhetoric is causing me to be shot at, when I am the one who is going to save the country and they are the ones that are destroying the country — both from the inside and out,” Trump said in comments to Fox News Digital.

The Republican former president's statements are a sharp departure from how he reacted after an assassination attempt in July during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in which a bullet grazed his ear.

Then, Trump called for national unity, saying in a social media post that “it is more important than ever that we stand United.” A few days later, though, the former president returned to his usual commentary where he has sharply criticizes Democrats and relishes political bombast.

While authorities continue to investigate the motives of both the gunman in Pennsylvania and the person arrested Sunday in Florida, Trump has made clear that he sees attempts on his life as politically motivated — and blames his rivals for them.

That's despite Trump himself drawing repeated criticism for his rhetoric. He has talked about prosecuting his political rivals and alleged without evidence that Democrats have brought the felony cases against him for political reasons.

In a post on his social media site on Monday, Trump again claimed that he had been the target of politically motivated attacks, writing that the left “has taken politics in our Country to a whole new level of Hatred, Abuse, and Distrust.” He said “it will only get worse” and then veered into comments about immigration, even though there is no evidence the person arrested in connection with the apparent assassination attempt was an immigrant.

That follows the former president during last week's debate and in the days after it amplifying false rumors that Haitian immigrants in Ohio are abducting and eating pets. The community days later evacuated schools and government buildings amid bomb threats, adding to the sense of an especially unstable and tense moment in America even before Sunday’s stunning development.

Biden, by contrast, sought to steer clear of politics. He decried the apparent assassination attempt and said on Monday that America must work to stop the scourge of political violence.

“America has suffered too many times the tragedy of an assassin’s bullet,” Biden said at the start of an address to the National HBCU Week Conference in Philadelphia. “It solves nothing. It just tears the country apart. We must do everything we can to prevent it and never give it any oxygen.”

Biden in his speech added that Ronald Rowe, the acting director of the Secret Service, was in Florida “assessing what happened and determining whether any further adjustments need to be made to ensure” Trump’s safety.

After Trump's shooting in Pennsylvania, Biden initially called on the nation to lower the political temperature, though he, too, eventually pivoted back to criticizing Trump as a threat to the nation's founding principles.

Rice University historian Douglas Brinkley said Sunday's “deeply troublesome” event coming on top of an already dramatic year with an election looming has created “a kind of uncertainty across the land.”

Brinkley said, “2024 has just unspooled in a chaotic and frightful fashion. It’s impossible for anybody to get footing in their daily lives with a news cycle that is so constantly grim and absurd.”

Trump had already been scheduled to spend Monday at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida, according to a person familiar with his schedule. That now includes a briefing in person from Rowe, who is leading the Secret Service after its director resigned following the Pennsylvania shooting, according to the person, who was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. Rowe arrived in West Palm Beach on Monday morning.

On Monday night, Trump is expected to speak about cryptocurrency live on the social media site X for the launch of his sons’ crypto platform, followed by an expected return to the campaign trail on Tuesday for a town hall in Flint, Michigan. He has appearances later in the week in New York, Washington and North Carolina.

Harris, meanwhile, was meeting with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters at the 1.3 million-member group’s headquarters in Washington as the Democratic presidential nominee hopes to lock yet another labor union’s endorsement. She was scheduled on Tuesday to campaign in swing-state Pennsylvania and planned later in the week to speak in Washington, Michigan and Wisconsin.

Harris' husband, second gentleman Doug Emhoff, was planning to attend campaign receptions in Washington and New York on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Their returns to the campaign trail are likely to be overshadowed by questions about the armed man engaged by Secret Service agents at the former president’s Florida golf course. The FBI was leading the investigation and working to determine any motive.

Beyond the first attempt on Trump’s life when he was grazed by a bullet at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, the campaign was whipsawed over the past six months by Trump’s historic criminal trial and conviction; the crisis and eventual end of Biden’s reelection campaign after his floundering debate performance; and Harris taking his place, fundamentally shifting the race.

In August, Trump’s campaign disclosed it had been hacked and said Iranian actors had stolen and distributed sensitive internal documents. The Justice Department is preparing criminal charges in connection with the hack.

Trump's blaming the Democrats for saying he is a threat to American democracy is a theme his allies have also picked up on, seeking to link those arguments to Sunday's detention of a suspect. Investigators have not commented on the suspect's potential motives.

Republican strategist David Urban, a Trump ally, said it was too soon to know how that might affect the days and weeks ahead in the campaign, but in his conversations with those in Trump’s orbit, he was picking up a deep sense of shock and uncertainty.

“We’ve said unprecedented so many times this year," Urban said. “I don’t know if we can even say the word anymore.”

Weissert reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Ayanna Alexander in Philadelphia, Steve Peoples in New York and Adriana Gomez Licon in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., contributed to this report.

A newspaper is displayed in a vehicle outside of the Mar-a-Lago estate after the apparent assassination attempt of Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

Police officers direct traffic near Trump International Golf Club after the apparent assassination attempt of Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump in West Palm Beach, Fla., Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Terry Renna)

FILE - The motorcade for President Donald Trump arrives at Trump International Golf Club, Feb. 15, 2020, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

Photos that show an AK-47 rifle, a backpack and a Go-Pro camera on a fence outside Trump International Golf Club taken after an apparent assassination attempt of Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump, are displayed during a news conference at the Palm Beach County Main Library, Sunday. Sept. 15, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Stephany Matat)