Pirates Bullpen Collapses in Sixth; Lose to Braves 11-3

Mitch Keller had a fine outing, but the Pittsburgh Pirates (4-10-2) and their bullpen collapsed as they lost to the Atlanta Braves (6-7-2) 11-3 Sunday afternoon.

Yohan Ramirez came in for Angel Perdomo in the sixth inning after Perdomo allowed two baserunners and reached his pitch count limit.

Ramirez then allowed a two-run double to Ehire Adrianza, giving the Braves a 4-3 lead.

Ryan Casteel came to the plate following Adrianza and proceeded to drive in the Braves’ fifth run of the game. The sixth-inning nightmare continued for Ramirez as Joe Hudson hit a two-run homer, making it a 7-3 Braves’ lead.

Ramirez needed 21 pitches to record the last out of the sixth inning.

Despite giving up a first-inning homer to Michael Harris II and a rather unlucky run, Keller looked good yet again. Keller went four innings, threw 61 pitches (40 strikes), two earned runs, one walk, and four strikeouts.

Keller used five different pitches, but stuck primarily with his cutter (36%), four-seam (27%), and sinker (16%). Keller’s four-seam put up some good numbers with four whiffs, two called strikes, and a CSW% of 40.

Bryan Reynolds got the Pirates’ offense going in the fourth inning after blasting his second homer of spring, cutting the Braves lead to 2-1 at the time.

The Pirates took their only lead in the fifth inning after a two-run home run from Jack Suwinski. The Pirates took a 3-2 lead over the Braves.

Tyler Samaniego had a rough outing in the ninth inning for the Pirates.  In his inning of work, Samaniego gave up three earned runs as the Braves took a 10-3 lead.

Cameron Junker replaced Samaniego in the ninth and got the final two outs of the inning, but not before Hoy Park scored for the Braves after a misplayed fly ball from Cal Mitchell.

The Braves led 11-3.

Wil Crowe, Yerry De Los Santos, and Colin Selby all pitched clean innings of work and combined to throw for two strikeouts and two walks.

The Pirates’ offense managed just four hits throughout the game, and no player recorded a multi-hit game.

The Pirates are off on Monday and will return to action on Tuesday, where Rich Hill is scheduled to pitch for the Pirates against the Baltimore Orioles.