08/10/23 – By Ethan Smith – @mvp_Ethan on Twitter
What. A. Series
The Pittsburgh Pirates and Atlanta Braves met for four games at PNC Park this week and many expected Atlanta to run over an inferior Pirates squad, but every game in the series would be decided by two runs or less and both teams would pick up two wins in the process, including a Pirates comeback victory on Thursday.
Atlanta started hot in this one, scoring four runs in the first three innings against trade-deadline acquisition Bailey Falter, who saw four innings of work as the Braves lineup hit him eight times.
For Pittsburgh though, this series was all about showing the best team in the NL that they wouldn’t just lay down and that they would fight back in these games, and that’s exactly what they did Thursday afternoon.
After three innings of the Braves scoring, Pittsburgh found a jolt offensively against Bryce Elder, scoring three runs in the third inning guided by a Ke’Bryan Hayes sing that would bring the Pirates within one run.
Pittsburgh continued to put runs up on the board in the sixth, scoring two more thanks to a Jack Suwinski double and a Liover Peguero single that would each score runs for the Buccos.
The seventh was no different as Hayes would once again torch Atlanta’s pitching with a triple that would score Bryan Reynolds, following by another Peguero RBI-single that gave the Pirates seven unanswered runs against Atlanta.
Pittsburgh came back and took the lead after the 4-0 deficit and with help from Thomas Hatch, who would pick up the victory here and go four innings without allowing a run, the Pirates managed to get to the top of the ninth and have room to allow a run, which they did.
In the end, you could look at this series in two lights. One, the Pirates very well could have swept the Braves. The other, and the light you should be looking towards, is that they lost by a combined three runs in their two losses against a 70-plus win team at this point and played very good baseball offensively. It may be a split on the record book, but it’s a massive win for this young squad.
Pittsburgh starts a new series tomorrow against NL Central rival Cincinnati to end the home stand.
News & Notes
- Falter: 4.0 IP, 8 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 3 K
- Hatch: 4.0 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K(W)
- Holderman: 1.0 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 3 K(SV)
- Peguero(2 RBI) and Hayes(3 RBI) lead the way offensively in a 10 hit afternoon
- Pirates move to 52-63 and split series w/ Braves, Cincinnati next
Steel City Pirates 