Braves Break out Brooms and the Long Ball, Beat the Pirates 5-3

The combination of William Contreras and Adam Duvall proved to be deadly for the Braves Sunday afternoon. After a Marcell Ozuna ground out to Ke’Bryan Hayes, Jose Quintana faced Contreras with one out in the bottom of the fourth.

In a 1-1 count, Contreras rocketed a sharp liner to the right-field gap, and Duvall came to the plate with a runner in scoring position, looking to punish the ball. 

Duvall did just that and deposited his second homer of the day, giving the Braves a 4-1 lead at the time. That two-run home run proved to be costly as the Pirates got swept by the Braves by the score of 5-3.     

Jose Quintana had to labor through his outing Sunday afternoon. In just the first inning alone, Quintana had to throw 22 pitches. You can add another 20-plus pitches thrown to a singular batter in Ozzie Albies, mix all that, and have a ton of pitches thrown in a short span.

According to Greg Brown on the Pirates’ broadcast, Quintana felt under the weather, so maybe we can see why he struggled Sunday afternoon. Quintana induced 16 swings and misses, and 15 of those came from his curveball (ten) and his four-seam (six).

Quintana’s final line read five innings pitched, six hits, four earned runs, one walk, four strikeouts, and 92 pitches thrown (61% strike rate). Half of the hits given up for Quintana were home runs.

In the top of the third, Bryan Reynolds hit a deep sac-fly to right field, scoring Diego Castillo. The Pirates cut the Braves’ lead 2-1.

Reynolds delivered again in the top of the fifth with a huge two-run home run pulling the Pirates within one. The Braves lead 4-3.

The Braves belted back-to-back home runs in the bottom of the second. William Contreras (ninth) and Adam Duvall (fifth) gave the Braves an early 2-0 lead.

Matt Olson belted his eighth home run of the year in the bottom of the eighth, giving the Braves some insurance against the Pirates, making it a 5-3 lead.

Takeaways

Mr. Marcano- Tucupita Marcano had himself a series despite the Pirates getting swept by the Braves. Sunday afternoon, Marcano went 3-4 with a double and hit the ball rather hard in two of his three hits.

Mr. June- When the heat starts to creep in, apparently Reynolds does too. In back-to-back games, Reynolds hit home runs, and he has now boosted his average a tick below .250 on the year. 

Caw Caw- Wil Crowe looked electric Sunday afternoon against the Braves. In two innings of work, Crowe gave up no hits, walked just one, and struck out one. Going unscathed against a Braves lineup is difficult, and Crowe did that very thing.