The Pirates used two runs in the eighth and one in the ninth to comeback and defeat the Braves 3-2 to snap their seven-game losing skid on Wednesday night.
The Pirates (65-62) were only able to record three hits through seven innings against Braves starter Alex Wood. Josh Harrison led the bottom of the first off with a double, but was picked off. Gaby Sanchez and Travis Snider recorded singles in the second and fifth innings for the other offense.
It would be Sanchez and Snider that gave the Pirates the push they needed to tie things up in the eighth down 2-0. Sanchez led the inning off with a walk and Snider followed with a book-rule double down the right field line to knock Wood from the game. Chris Stewart then grounded out to first against David Carpenter to score Sanchez and move Snider to third.
Neil Walker was then called upon to pinch-hit and worked a full count. Carpenter’s payoff pitch bounced in front of the plate and rolled to the backstop allowing Snider to score to tie things up.
The Pirates used the momentum from the previous inning to end things in the bottom of the ninth. Jordy Mercer led the inning off with a single. After Andrew McCutchen — who was 0-for-4 on the night– poped out to first, Starling Marte sent a fly ball to left-center. Braves brothers Justin and B.J. Upton converged on the ball and had a miscommunication allowing the ball to drop allowing Mercer to advance to third on the play. Sanchez followed with a deep sacrifice fly to walk-off.
“It’s just pushing,” said Sanchez. “It’s nothing about not doing anything offensively or anything like that. I feel like we did hit a lot of balls hard. We just hit them at people and there’s not much you can do in those situations, so for us, it’s just keep pushing forward. We knew we were going to get our chance again and the guys we have in the lineup, we all know what we can do and we all trust one another and we were able to come back.”
Gerrit Cole did exactly what was needed of him by allowing only two runs in seven innings of work in his first start since coming off of the DL. His start to the game wasn’t what he wanted as he allowed a lead-off walk to Jason Heyward. He then allowed back-to-back singles to make it 1-0 before getting an inning-ending double play.
The Braves (66-61) recorded one hit off of Cole through the next four innings before experiencing more trouble in the sixth. With the bases loaded and one out, Chris Johnson single to right. One run scored on the play, but a second was stopped by a perfect strike from Snider for the second out. Cole then struck out Evan Gattis to end the threat.
“I was a little shaky in the first with the location, but it started to get better as the game went on and worked out of that jam with the help of Travis,” said Cole. “We were able to put our foot down when we needed to. To come back and grab a couple of runs at the end of the game was big.”
Tony Watson and Mark Melancon (W, 2-3) worked perfect innings in the effort.
“It’s a nice shot in the arm,” said manager Clint Hurdle. “It’s a real nice shot in the arm.”
Final Score: Pirates 3, Braves 2.
Starters Lines
Cole (ND): 7 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 1 IBB, 6 K’s, 1 WP. 97 Pitches (61 Strikes).
Wood: 7+ IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K’s, 98 Pitches (64 Strikes).
The Pirates will have a day off tomorrow before starting a pivotal three-game series at the Brewers. The Pirates trail Milwaukee by six games in the NL Central.
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(Photo Credit: Getty Images)
