For five innings Tuesday night, the Pirates’ offense resembled the group of hitters unable to mount much of anything against a trio of Milwaukee Brewers starters.
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Matt Kemp grew up a fan of the Atlanta Braves during the team’s glory days of winning five National League pennants and a World Series title in the 1990s, and the 31-year-old outfielder now is living a childhood dream of suiting up for his favorite team. New additions to the bullpen helped hold the lead, and the Pirates improved to 53-51.
Pittsburgh’s Matt Joyce celebrated his 32nd birthday by hitting a three-run homer that bounced on the top of the fence and just eluded center fielder Enter Inciarte.
On Tuesday, Foltynewicz didn’t allow a hit through the first four innings.
After that, though, the game was all Atlanta. Frazier hit a two-run single off Jose Ramirez to give Pittsburgh a 5-2 lead. Anthony Recker capitalized on Nick Markakis’s second-inning lead-off double with an RBI ground out that scored the right fielder.
Frazier also hit a double, and he was robbed of a third hit by Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman.
Whalen didn’t allow a hit after the second inning, retired nine of the last 10 batters he faced and was charged with four hits, four runs and four walks with five strikeouts. A sacrifice fly by Markakis tied the game, and a single by Ender Inciarte brought in Kemp with the fifth Braves run.
But after the Pirates batted around in a four-run rude welcome of an opening frame, Whalen settled in and worked the next four scoreless innings, earning a win in his debut as the Braves rallied and rolled past Pittsburgh, 8-4, at Turner Field. It’ll happen, and they’ll be all the better for it.
The Braves capped their scoring in the seventh with an Erick Aybar triple (his first of the season), scoring Inciarte once more.
Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle, looking for anything that might get the center fielder’s bat in gear, chose to bench him for the three-game series against the Braves.
For his part, Whalen staunched the bleeding after the first, but it wasn’t smooth sailing the rest of the way. “He started leaving the fastball up a little bit and I think some guys got a little better timing on it”.
Starling Marte was hit by two pitches but stayed in the game. Overall, it was a debut with positives and negatives. On the one hand, 10 baserunners and four runs in five frames isn’t great; on the other hand, he notched five strikeouts and showed enough composure to battle back and not fall apart after a terrible first inning. Ian Krol, Mauricio Cabrera, Chris Withrow and Jim Johnson each pitched a flawless inning of relief.
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The Pirates are 2-8 in their last eight road games, 4-1 in their last five against the NL East, and 1-5 in their last six Thursday games while the Braves are 7-17 in their last 24 against the NL Central, 18-37 in their last 55 Thursday games, and 2-6 in their last eight at home against a team with a winning record. Arquimedes Caminero pitched in this game for the Pirates, which is always noteworthy due to his awesome name.
