NEW YORK -- As the Pirates prepare to open a four-game series at the new Nationals Park in Washington on Thursday, arguably no one will be happier to see Major League Baseball's newest park and watch the calendar flip to May than second baseman Freddy Sanchez.

Feeling as if he's on the verge of breaking out of his early-season funk, Sanchez will join his teammates at the new ballpark, one that is supposed to be more hitter-friendly than the former RFK Stadium.

The only National League park at which Sanchez had a lower batting average than the .194 mark he had at RFK Stadium is PETCO Park, where the former batting champion has hit .152.

And not only does Sanchez have the ballpark switch working for him, but he's also got the calendar working in his favor.

Sanchez's .232 average going into Thursday's series opener is way too close to both of those sub-Mendoza Line numbers for the second baseman to be satisfied. But it also reflects a slow-start pattern by the second baseman.

His April career average is now .250, which included a .224 mark last season -- he finished the year with a .304 average. It's the second baseman's lowest average for any month, and if you compare that April average to his May career mark of .331, Sanchez's history would suggest that the he is primed for a better month.

Sanchez won't blame any of his early struggles on the fact that a right shoulder injury bugged him throughout the offseason and into the onset of the regular season. That injury only affected his throwing, Sanchez has insisted for weeks.

Instead, Sanchez pinpoints his most recent struggles simply to pressing. He's come up short with runners on scoring position, stranding 17 of them already this season. And Sanchez admits that it's eating at him.

"I'm [the] biggest victim, trying to do too much in certain situations," Sanchez said. "If I can start getting it going on offense, it will take a lot of pressure off the rest of our offense."

Though he spent much of April unable to come up with many critical hits, Sanchez's production in clutch situations changed over the first two games of this road trip. He knocked a two-out, game-tying single in Tuesday's game to push the game to extra innings, though the Mets prevailed in 11 frames. Then, on Wednesday, Sanchez finished the afternoon 2-for-5 with two RBI singles to his credit.

The hope now is that the recent success will allow Sanchez to settle in.

"That's what you hope for," Sanchez said. "You hope that hits like that can jump-start you. Hopefully, that's the one for me. We'll see what happens. Hopefully, going forward, I'll be able to help out a little more."

Pitching matchup
PIT: LHP Zach Duke (0-2, 5.34 ERA)
Dealing with baserunners on an inning-to-inning basis is not going to change with Duke, whose game is making hitters put the ball in play. However, in each of his last two starts, the balls have found the holes, and those baserunners have been scoring. After giving up nine hits and six runs in his last six-inning start, opponents are now hitting .344 against the lefty, who has struggled to get his pitches down.

WSH: LHP Odalis Perez (0-3, 3.31 ERA)
On Friday, Perez pitched well against the Cubs, giving up two runs in six innings, but he ended up with his third no-decision of the season as the bullpen was unable to protect a 3-2 lead. With the bases loaded in the eighth, left-hander Mike O'Connor walked pinch-hitter Matt Murton to force home Aramis Ramirez and tie the score at 3.

Bucs bits
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Nate McLouth's leadoff homer on Tuesday made him the first player to lead off the first inning with homers in back-to-back games at different ballparks since Kenny Lofton did so in 2002. McLouth homered off Philadelphia's Brett Myers at PNC Park on Sunday before going deep against Mets ace Johan Santana on Tuesday. ... The last Pirate to hit leadoff homers in consecutive games was Barry Bonds, who did so on May 12-13, 1988, at Three Rivers Stadium. ... With a win against lefty Oliver Perez on Wednesday, the Pirates have now won just two games against left-handed starters this season. They will be facing left-handed starters in each of the next three games. ... SI.com announced on Wednesday that it ranked PNC Park as having the third-best ballpark experience. The Indians' Progressive Field and Miller Park in Milwaukee came in ahead of the Pirates' home ballpark in the final results based on an online fan survey. ... When Doug Mientkiewicz came in to play right field in the seventh on Wednesday, it marked his fourth career appearance at the outfield position and his first since May 15, 2003.

Tickets
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On the Internet
 MLB.TV
 Gameday Audio
•  Gameday
•  Official game notes

On television
• FSNP

On radio
• WPGB-FM 104.7

Up next
• Friday: Pirates (Phil Dumatrait, 0-1, 3.92) at Nationals (Matt Chico, 0-5, 6.68), 7:35 p.m. ET
• Saturday: Pirates (Paul Maholm, 2-2, 3.26) at Nationals (John Lannan, 2-2, 2.64), 1:05 p.m. ET
• Sunday: Pirates (Ian Snell, 2-1, 4.93) at Nationals (TBD), 1:35 p.m. ET