Ke’Bryan Hayes’ Big Night Not Enough For Pirates in 6-5 Loss to Braves

Recap

PITTSBURGH — Ke’Bryan Hayes did everything he could to try and will the Pittsburgh Pirates to a win, but it wasn’t quite enough as they were defeated 6-5 by the Atlanta Braves on Wednesday at PNC Park.

Trailing 4-0, the Pirates tied things up in the home half of the fourth. With the bases loaded, Jared Triolo legged out an infield single and Alika Williams drove in a run on a groundout.

Ke’Bryan Hayes followed with a two-run single up the middle to tie the game at 4-all.

Hayes’ night wasn’t done. After the Braves took a 5-4 lead in the top of the sixth, Hayes hit his second homer in as many games, a solo shot into the bullpens to tie the game again in the seventh.

The Braves scored four runs off of Quinn Priester, all with two outs. Michael Harris II, Sean Murphy and Ozzie Albies all drove in a run with singles and Ronald Acuña Jr. doubled home a run in the fourth.

After the Braves went ahead 6-5, Raisel Iglesias closed it out in the ninth for the second-straight night. The Pirates had the tying run 90-feet away with runners on the corners, but Henry Davis went down on strikes.

Key Moment 

In the eighth inning, Austin Riley popped one into shallow right field. The ball was caught by second baseman Jared Triolo and Harris broke for home from third, just beating the throw. The Pirates appealed at third base and Harris was ruled out. After the Braves challenged, the call was overturned and Atlanta jumped ahead 6-5.

Star of the Game

Hayes finished the game with a home run, two singles and three RBIs in five trips to the plate.

Stat to Know

This is the first time Hayes has had multi-hit games in back-to-back contests since combining for eight hits from June 7-8. It was also his first time with back-to-back multi-RBI games since May 31-June 2.

Noteworthy

• Colin Selby made his major league debut out of the bullpen for the Pirates. In 1.2 innings, he allowed two hits, walked one (intentionally) and struck out three batters. 17 of his 23 pitches (74%) went for strikes.
• After hitting a single in the third, Bryan Reynolds has hits in 14 of his last 18 games and is hitting .315 (23 for 73) with six home runs over that span.
• In addition to Hayes, Andrew McCutchen recorded a multi-hit game with a pair of singles in his final two at-bats.
• Pirates’ pitchers did not record a single 1-2-3 inning against the Braves.
• Atlanta out-hit the Pirates 15-8 and left 13 runners on base.

Up Next

The final game of this four-game set between the Pirates (51-63) and Braves (72-40) will take place on Thursday afternoon. Bailey Falter (0-7, 4.87 ERA) will make his second start with Pittsburgh. All-star right-hander Bryce Elder (8-3, 3.43 ERA) will get the ball for Atlanta. First pitch: 12:35.