Atlanta Braves Game Recap w/Morning Chop, Box: Pirates Prevail; White, Banuelos
Jun 26, 2015; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates center fielder Andrew McCutchen (22) rounds third base on his way to scoring the game winning run against the Atlanta Braves during the tenth inning at PNC Park. The Pirates won 3-2 in ten innings. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
The Braves can’t score without Freddie Freeman and Jason Grilli still has a soft spot for Pittsburgh.
2 runs for Atlanta… which was actually an improvement over recent days… by nonetheless led to a fourth straight loss for the visitors as the Pirates mercifully shortened the night by plating a run in the 10th inning for a 3-2 walk-off win.
In the midst of this, Williams Perez, who was sailing along until being struck in the ankle by a liner, could be hurt enough to miss some action:
Perez is wearing a boot, but X-Rays were negative.
— Mark Bowman (@mlbbowman) June 27, 2015
It was surprise that Perez even stayed in the game, but it was also clearly a mistake. After the 5th inning incident, he walked a batter, balked him to second base, and then hit Andrew McCutchen. Luis Avilan came in, but was unable to put a halt to the inning: an infield single (Starling Marte) loaded the bases and then Pedro Alvarez unloaded them with a single that scored 2 crucial runs.
Runs Drought
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The Braves offense – though there are multiple interpretations of that particular word – scored in two very unusual ways: a bases-loaded walk and a homer by Juan Uribe. That walk, coming in the second inning, was the only thing to salvage a 1 out run-scoring opportunity as Perez then fouled out (no surprise) and Jace Peterson struck out (surprise) – looking uncharacteristically bad on the AB. That was the biggest threat of the night for Atlanta. Three double plays erased later base-runners, and other than Uribe, no one else reached second base.
In the tenth inning, Jason Grilli‘s first pitch was rocketed into the left field stands on one bounce by McCutchen. From there, it seemed just a matter of time. After an intentional walk and a strikeout, Jody Mercer ripped one off the right field wall to end the game, spoiling yet another excellent start from Williams Perez (4-0 with 4 N.D.’s).
The Braves managed just 6 hits – 3 of those later DP’d – though walked 4 times are starter Francisco Liriano took a while to settle in. Perez scattered 4 hits and 2 walks. He was charged with the runs that Avilan permitted, thus raising his ERA to 2.88. Nick Masset and Jim Johnson shared 3 solid innings of relief.
But you could almost argue that Grilli saved the rest of the bullpen by ending the game more quickly, for the Braves’ bats were so anemic that they might not have scored had the game continued through another dozen innings.
We’ll see if they can snap out of it this afternoon – they might have to, as Julio Teheran is pitching… and that road ERA of 7.17 is glaring.
Here’s your box score:
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