Pirates at Braves
The Atlanta Braves stumbled offensively through segments of last week’s six-game road trip, but they come home to open a four-game series Monday against the Pittsburgh Pirates with momentum after a tremendous comeback victory. The Braves scored four times in the top of the ninth inning Sunday at Miami - punctuated by Ronald Acuna Jr.’s game-tying three-run homer - and pulled ahead on a Matt Joyce 12th-inning infield single for a 7-6 win to pull within one game of the Natioal League East lead.
Atlanta finished with seven or fewer hits in three of the six games on the trip but rallied late Sunday thanks to three hits from Joyce - who took advantage of a spot start in right field - and two hits from first baseman Freddie Freeman, who finished the road trip 9-for-24 with three homers to lift the Braves (36-29) a season-high seven games above .500. The Pirates begin the week having lost 14 of their past 20 games, blowing a 2-0 lead Sunday at Milwaukee by allowing five runs after the fifth inning in a 5-2 defeat. If there is any good news in that stretch is that Pittsburgh took two of three from the Braves last week, scoring 18 runs in the series. Rookie left fielder Bryan Reynolds collected two more hits Sunday, extending his hitting streak to 17 games - the longest by a Pittsburgh rookie since Neil Walker’s 18-game run in 2010 - and giving him a .400 average with four doubles, a triple, two homers and 11 RBIs in that span.
TV: 7:20 p.m. ET, AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh, FS Southeast (Atlanta)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Pirates RH Joe Musgrove (4-6, 4.44 ERA) vs. Braves RH Kevin Gausman (2-5, 6.15)
Musgrove had allowed 11 runs on 21 hits in his previous two starts before facing Atlanta on Wednesday, but he gave up three runs on five hits (including two ninth-inning solo homers) to the Braves to get the win over eight-plus innings. The 26-year-old endured a miserable May in which he posted an 8.10 ERA and 1.67 WHIP in six starts - a stretch that seven scoreless innings of one-hit pitching May 14 against Arizona. Musgrove has pitched far better away from home, recording a 3.29 ERA across seven games (six starts).
With last week’s signing of free-agent pitcher Dallas Keuchel, Gausman could be pitching to keep his spot in the rotation after back-to-back dreadful outings. The 28-year-old was hammered for seven runs on 12 hits in five innings Wednesday against the Pirates after giving up eight runs on eight hits in one-plus inning on May 29 against Washington. Gausman, who had given up six runs across his three previous starts prior to his past two games, has pitched to a 7.81 ERA with a .331 batting average against in his past nine outings.
WALK-OFFS
1. Making his first start at shortstop since 2015, Pirates 3B Jung Ho Kang snapped a 0-for-26 skid with a two-run homer in the second inning Sunday.
2. Atlanta 3B Josh Donaldson went 3-for-25 on the road trip with seven strikeouts, lowering his average to .237.
3. Pittsburgh 1B Josh Bell, who began Sunday leading the majors with 57 RBIs, is hitless in his past nine at-bats with four strikeouts.