Braves at Pirates
Austin Riley continues to impress as he crafts one of the more amazing starts to a career in major league history, and he carries the Atlanta Braves into Wednesday’s contest at the Pittsburgh Pirates after another monumental moment in the series opener. The 22-year-old outfielder slammed a three-run, go-ahead homer as Atlanta rallied for a 12-5 victory Tuesday, giving Riley 25 RBIs - the second-fastest ever to reach that mark in 18 career games.
Riley’s homer in the seventh inning helped the Braves win for the 15th time in their past 22 games, hitting his ninth longball of the season as he enters Wednesday hitting .324 with a 1.101 OPS. The Pirates fell for the 11th time in their past 15 games, giving up double-digit hits for the 11th time in that span, and have allowed 7.8 runs per game during the stretch. Rookie left fielder Bryan Reynolds extended his hitting streak to 12 games in the series opener, going 18-for-44 in that span, and is batting .347 overall this season after going 1-for-4 on Tuesday. Right fielder Melky Cabrera went 2-for-4 Tuesday with a homer, three RBIs and a run scored, and lifetime is .387 with 11 RBIs in 17 career games against the Braves.
TV: 7:05 p.m. ET, FS Southeast (Atlanta), AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh
PITCHING MATCHUP: Braves RH Kevin Gausman (2-4, 5.56 ERA) vs. Pirates RH Joe Musgrove (3-6, 4.57)
Gausman’s string of three consecutive solid starts ended in brutal fashion in his last outing May 29 against Washington, giving up eight runs on eight hits while not recording an out in the second inning of a 14-4 defeat. The 28-year-old gave up six earned runs total in his three previous starts with 15 hits allowed and 16 strikeouts over 18 innings, as Atlanta went 3-0. Gausman, against whom opponents are hitting .275 in road games, went 1-0 with one earned run allowed in 14 innings across two starts against the Pirates last season.
Musgrove exited April with a 1.54 ERA and 0.89 WHIP, but endured a miserable May during which he posted an 8.10 ERA and 1.67 WHIP with 38 hits allowed in 30 innings across six starts. The 26-year-old struggled mightily in his final two starts of the month, giving up a combined 11 runs on 21 hits with three homers allowed over 11 innings in losses to the Los Angeles Dodgers and Milwaukee. Musgrove, who has surrendered five earned runs or more in four of his past six outings, is 1-0 with a 4.63 ERA in two career starts against Atlanta.
WALK-OFFS
1. Pittsburgh came into Tuesday without an error in 77 consecutive innings, but that streak ended on C Edwin Diaz’s throwing miscue in the first inning - the first of three Pittsburgh errors in the series opener.
2. Atlanta 1B Freddie Freeman hit his 300th career double in the eighth inning Tuesday.
3. Braves 3B Josh Donaldson, who entered the series 10-for-43 with no homers and one RBI in his past 13 games, finished 1-for-4 with two runs scored, a homer and three RBIs.