Alex Wood and the Atlanta Braves were in control against the Pittsburgh Pirates through the first seven innings leading 2-0. However, in the late innings Pittsburgh played good fundamental baseball and the Braves executed poorly defensively. The Pirates were able to muster out a 3-2 win in the ninth in walk-off fashion.
Alex Wood trotted out for the eighth inning for the third time in his career, trying to finish off another great performance before he hands it to Kimbrel in the ninth. The one thing Wood didn’t want to do was walk the leadoff hitter Gaby Sanchez, well that’s what he did. After Wood got ahead of left-handed batter Travis Snider with two strikes, Wood hung a 0-2 breaking ball that Snider bolted down the left field line for a ground rule double. That was the end of the line for Wood and Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez went to setup man Jordan Walden.
The Pirates cut the Braves lead in half with an RBI groundout by Pirates catcher Chris Stewart. With a runner at third base, Pirates manager Clint Hurdle brought everyday second baseman Neil Walker to pinch-hit. Walker ended up walking but on the decisive pitch that placed Walker at first base Walden spiked a breaking ball leading to a wild pitch allowing Snider to score from third base to tie the game 2-2.
The Braves lineup couldn’t grab the lead in the ninth against Pirates closer Mark Melancon. With the game tied on the road Fredi Gonzalez went to David Carpenter instead of closer Craig Kimbrel. Jordy Mercer led off the ninth with a single that was flared to right field.
The play that decided the game was with one-out and Starling Marte at the plate. Marte hit a fly ball to left field that almost forced the Upton brothers to collide. The ball clanked off Justin Upton’s glove and allowed the runners to advance to second and third base. Gaby Sanchez didn’t wait long as he hit the first pitch he saw to center field for the walk-off sac-fly leading to the Pirates 3-2 victory.
Even with the team losing Alex Wood outpitched former No. 1 overall pick Gerrit Cole who came off the DL today. Wood went seven plus innings allowing two runs on four hits while striking out four and walking only one. Cole gave the Pirates some life after a miserable seven-game losing streak providing seven innings allowing only two runs on five hits. He walked four but struck out six Atlanta batters.
Both of the two runs scored by Atlanta were from leadoff man Jason Heyward. The Braves right fielder led off the game with a walk and later scored on a Justin Upton single. Heyward then led off the sixth inning with a double and later scored on bases loaded single by Chris Johnson.
Since Heyward has moved back to the leadoff spot he’s been the Braves catalyst that has led to the Braves good run of success winning five of their last six games. Even though the Braves lost a tough one Wednesday night, they come away from Pittsburgh winning two of three as they head to Cincinnati for four games.
Atlanta might be catching the Reds at the right time as they have lost eight of their last ten games, and with the Braves offense rolling they should take advantage of the friendly confines of Great American Ball Park.