Atlanta’s lineup was nowhere to be found for long stretches of this series
Right after the Atlanta Braves had gotten done taking three-out-of-four games against the Reds, the expectations in Braves Country were pretty high ahead of their trip to Pittsburgh to take on the Pirates. After all, the Pirates had just gotten done firing their manager and were 1-10 over their past 11 games. On top of all that, the Braves didn’t have to worry about seeing Paul Skenes or Mitch Keller in this series, so it seemed like this series was tailor made for the Braves to keep their good vibes rolling from Cobb County to the banks of the Allegheny.
As we know by now, that wasn’t the case. The Braves ended up becoming the latest victims of the “new manager bounce,” as the Pirates showed plenty of fight and effort as they ended up winning their first series since taking two-out-of-three from the Angels late last month. We’re going to talk about it some more below but as you’ll see, the Pirates certainly deserved to take the series once it was all said and done.
Friday, May 9
Pirates 3, Braves 2
This game basically summed up nearly the entire series: Atlanta’s lineup was nowhere to be found in the early-to-middle portion of this game before eventually coming alive once runs and outs were at an absolute premium. Before the ninth inning rolled around, Bryce Elder was busy keeping the Braves in it with a decent start. He did give up the three runs that made the difference in this one but this one also shouldn’t have had to come to Bryce Elder being the one to carry the team to victory in this one.
Anyways, it was 3-0 Pittsburgh heading into the ninth inning before Atlanta finally made some noise on the scoreboard. Michael Harris II got Atlanta on the board by cashing in Eli White’s ninth-inning leadoff triple with a sacrifice fly and then Drake Baldwin hit an RBI single to make it 3-2. Ozzie Albies was the leadoff man for the Braves in this one and he went 0-for-5, with his final AB ending the game. Maybe let’s not have him lead off during this stretch that he’s on? Just an idea!
Saturday, May 10
Braves 3, Pirates 2
Fortunately, Atlanta didn’t wait until the game was nearly over to get their runs on the board in this one. In fact, they were actually playing from ahead in most of this one, as they had a 2-0 lead after three innings with a homer from Matt Olson responsible for the second run on that board. AJ Smith-Shawver pitched really well once again and it seemed like the Braves were going to cruise to a win here.
However, Atlanta’s offense died off in the middle portion of this game and the Pirates scratched together enough offense to where this one actually ended up going into extras tied at two runs apiece. Once again, Atlanta cobbled together enough of a presence at the plate to where a wild pitch was good enough to plate what ended up being the winning run for the Braves. Scott Blewett cane up big on the mound in order to ensure that the Braves would escape from this one with the win.
Sunday, May 11
Pirates 4, Braves 3
Once again, Atlanta’s lineup didn’t come to life until the latter portions of this one. It wasn’t until the eighth inning that we got to see the Braves show any serious signs of intent in this on, which is when they pulled off a comeback to bring the game to a 3-3 tie. The big hit was delivered by pinch-hitter Sean Murphy, who cleared the bases with an RBI double that tied the game at three runs apiece.
The obvious hope was that this would turn into another one of those magical late comebacks that the Braves have turned into a habit. Well this time, it was the other team having fun with buckets once the game was over, as the Pirates dinked-and-dunked Raisel Iglesias in the ninth inning on their way to a walk-off win that saw them pull off the series win. It may not have been the prettiest-looking baseball in the world but the Pirates were out there fighting, which is all their fans have asked from them in recent times!
Had the Braves taken care of business during this series, we’d be talking about them being at or possibly even above .500 for the first time all season. Instead, this ended up being an exercise in frustration — especially as far as the offense goes. I repeat: The Braves didn’t see Paul Skenes or Mitch Keller in any of these three games but based on wha we saw from results, you have to imagine just how dire this series had been if those two did pitch.
While Atlanta’s pitching staff definitely did their level best over the course of these three games, it’s hard for any team to win when the offense was as flat over as many long stretches as the Braves offense was during this series. Even in the win, the offense was largely dormant for long portions of the game and they were essentially gifted the winning run with a wild pitch. Other than that win salvaging the series, this was a pretty disappointing weekend trip for the Braves.
The good news for Atlanta is that they’ll be coming home and will have another shot at reaching or potentially clearing the .500 mark. The Nationals will be coming into this upcoming series having lost five in a row and also haven’t been playing well on the road, either. Maybe the best thing for the Braves to do will be to succeed in the upcoming series with Washington since I think everybody would like to just leave this series in the past where it belongs.