Brandon Lowe and Henry Davis each drove in two runs and Braxton Ashcraft struck out seven in a solid start as the Pittsburgh Pirates earned a 7-1 road win over the Washington Nationals on Saturday.

Ashcraft (9-3) allowed one run on six hits with two walks in 5 2/3 innings. Bryan Reynolds, Ryan O’Hearn and Nick Gonzales each had two hits for the Pirates.

James Wood hit his 23rd home run of the season and Daylen Lile had two hits for the Nationals.

Pittsburgh racked up five hits to open a 5-1 lead in the second. Gonzales singled, Jake Mangum was hit by a pitch and Tyler Callihan reached on a bunt single.

Nationals starter Carson Palmquist (0-1) was relieved by Zack Littell, who surrendered Davis’ RBI infield single, scoring Gonzales. Konnor Griffin struck out swinging, but Lowe’s two-run single scored Callihan and Mangum and advanced Davis to second. After Reynolds fouled out to third, Esmerlyn Valdez’s blooper to right drove in Davis.

Earlier, Griffin opened the game by poking a single into right field. He stole second base, and after Lowe struck out swinging, advanced to third on Reynolds’ infield single.

Palmquist struck out Valdez, but Pittsburgh took a 1-0 lead on a double steal as Reynolds swiped second and Griffin slid home safely ahead of the throw from Nationals shortstop CJ Abrams.

Wood evened the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the first when he drove a first-pitch fastball 428 feet to right for a homer.

Riley Cornelio relieved Littell in the eighth and Pittsburgh extended its lead to 7-1. Reynolds reached on a dribbler down the first-base line. Valdez struck out looking and O’Hearn singled to right. With runners on first and third, Gonzales laced an RBI single to left. Mangum reached on a fielder’s choice that forced out Gonzales at second, but Callihan walked to load the bases. Davis coaxed a walk to drive in another run.

Palmquist allowed four runs on four hits with no walks and three strikeouts in one inning.

–Field Level Media

The G.O.A.T. remains the top dog when it comes to devouring frankfurters on the Fourth of July.

Joey Chestnut won his 18th Nathan’s Famous hot dog-eating contest on Saturday in Coney Island, Brooklyn, N.Y.

Chestnut, 42, consumed 66 hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes. He holds the event record with 76 in 2021.

He ate 15 more than runner-up Patrick Bertoletti on Saturday.

“I knew I was going to be able to get the win,” Chestnut said afterwards “I’ve got so much room left.”

Miki Sudo, 40, won the women’s contest for the 12th time by downing 38.75 hot dogs.

Nathan’s Famous has been hosting the annual Independence Day contest since 1972.

–Field Level Media

Jonas Vingegaard leaned into his Team Visma/Lease a Bike teammates and grabbed the yellow jersey after Stage 1 of the Tour de France on Saturday at Barcelona, Spain.

The stage marked the return of a team trial to the Tour de France, with a new format as each rider was timed individually, instead of receiving a collective team time. A team time trial was last contested in the 2019 event and was last used as the opening stage in 1971.

Denmark’s Vingegaard broke from his teammates during a pair of 1.1-kilometer climbs before the finish line and completed the 19.6-kilometer course in 21 minutes, 47 seconds. He was eight seconds faster that Italy’s Filippo Ganna of Netcompany INEOS, while two-time defending champion and Slovenian native Tadej Pogacar of UAE Team Emirates was in third, 12 seconds off the lead.

Spain’s Juan Ayuso was fourth, 16 seconds behind Vingegaard.

“I would say it’s a perfect start,” said Vingegaard, who won the Giro d’Italia stage race in May. “It’s still a long tour, but it’s a perfect start. My teammates did an amazing job today. They were so strong. I didn’t have to do too much, to be honest. They just drove me to the finish.”

Vingegaard won consecutive Tour de France titles in 2022 and 2023, but was removed from cycling’s throne by Pogacar, who won the event in 2024 and 2025. That made Pogacar a four-time champion after also winning in 2020 and 2021.

Despite his third-place finish in the opening stage, Pogacar is well within striking distance to win his record-tying fifth title. Pogacar rallied on the late uphill section of the course with the fastest time over the final 3.3 kilometers to earn the polka-dot jersey, given to the top climber.

Sunday’s Stage 2 is a hilly 168.5-kilometer course that travels through Spain from Tarragona and along the Mediterranean Sea before heading inland and finishing at Barcelona’s Olympic Stadium.

The race will enter France during Stage 3 on Monday.

–Field Level Media