Oneil Cruz and Rowdy Tellez hit tape-measure home runs as the Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the host Atlanta Braves 4-2 on Sunday afternoon to salvage the finale of their three-game series.
Nick Gonzales doubled among his two hits for Pittsburgh, which snapped a two-game losing streak with its third win in the last seven games. Bryan Reynolds went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts to end his 25-game hitting streak, the longest in the majors this season.
Pittsburgh starter Bailey Falter (4-6) snapped a personal four-start losing streak with his first victory since May 24, allowing one run on two hits over five innings. He walked four and struck out five. Aroldis Chapman, despite giving up a run on two hits in the ninth, picked up his third save.
Sean Murphy doubled and totaled two hits, and Marcell Ozuna doubled, walked and scored a run for Atlanta, which finished with just six hits. Braves starter Spencer Schwellenbach (1-4) suffered the loss in yielding four runs on five hits over five innings. He walked two and struck out seven.
Atlanta took a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning when Ozuna led off with a walk, advanced to third on a single by Matt Olson and scored when Austin Riley grounded into a double play.
The Pirates took a 4-1 lead in the fifth. Jack Suwinski led off and was hit on the toe. He scored two outs later when Cruz crushed the first pitch for his 12th home run, which landed 452 feet away into the restaurant behind the right-field bleachers. Statcast registered the exit velocity at 117.3 mph.
Edward Olivares followed Cruz’s home run with a walk. Tellez then smashed a Schwellenbach splitter for his fourth homer, a 421-foot drive to right, to make it 4-1.
The Braves closed to 4-2 in the bottom of the ninth when Adam Duvall singled with one out and advanced to third on a double by Murphy. Duvall then scored on a sacrifice fly by Orlando Arcia, whose sinking liner to center was caught by a diving Michael A. Taylor. Pinch hitter Zack Short then grounded to third to end the game.
–Field Level Media
