Former Nats pitcher Joel Hanrahan earns win while relaxing in his hotel room

Former Nats pitcher earns easy win

Joel Hanrahan earned his first win of the year the easy way — hanging out in his hotel room.

And it was a victory that defied geography.

The Pittsburgh Pirates reliever was enjoying a day off in Philadelphia on Thursday when his former Washington Nationals teammates were finishing off a suspended game in Houston by winning 11-10 in the 11th inning and he was the winning pitcher.

“It’s pretty funny,” Hanrahan told The Associated Press by phone from Philadelphia, where the Pirates face the Phillies on Friday. “It feels pretty good in the situation that we’re in. Houston is a team in our division and we gained ground.”

How did he learn he finally has a win this season: “I got a bunch of text messages.”

On May 5 in Washington, Hanrahan pitched the top of the 11th and was on deck when the game was suspended with the score tied 10-all because of rain. In the interim, he was included in the June 30 deal with Pittsburgh for Nyjer Morgan, who scored the winning run Thursday.

LaTroy Hawkins was on the mound for Houston and Hanrahan was looking forward to facing his friend, but the game was called with Josh Willingham about to bat and a runner on first.

“We gave each other a hard time,” Hanrahan said of Hawkins, who got the loss.

The completion of the game was moved to Houston because the teams were not scheduled to play again in Washington this year.

Hawkins took the mound Thursday, and after giving up a single had a chance to get out of the inning with a potential double-play grounder from Josh Bard — who was pinch hitting for Hanrahan — but Miguel Tejada threw the ball away for his second error of the game and the winning run scored.

As a matter of the pitcher’s record, it’s a bit confusing — especially for fantasy baseball participants. Hanrahan, still 0-0 with Pittsburgh, improved to 1-3 this season. He would have been 1-1 on May 5 had the Nationals won then.