Pirates Spring Game Recap: Ke’Bryan Hayes Hits Grand Slam as Pirates Clobber Braves

Ke’Bryan Hayes’ grand slam was one of four home runs on Tuesday afternoon for the Pittsburgh Pirates as they earned their first spring training victory of the year by defeating the Atlanta Braves 13-4 at LECOM Park.

Hayes’ slam in the third inning erased a four-run deficit and measured 421 feet out to center field.

Golden and Grand. pic.twitter.com/OmEQoOe9C1

— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) February 27, 2024

Two innings after Hayes tied the game at 4-all, Bryan Reynolds gave the Pirates a 6-4 lead with a two-run home run to center field, his first hit of the spring. His 434-foot blast is the second-longest tracked by a Pirates’ player in spring training behind Travis Swaggerty last March (439 feet).

The Pirates (1-3) added plenty of insurance in the bottom of the sixth inning. Seth Beer drove in a run on an infield single, which was followed by a run-scoring single from Jase Bowen. Later in the inning, Mike Jarvis and Henry Davis added sacrifice flies to push the Pirates’ lead to 10-4.

With two outs, catching prospect Abrahan Gutierrez slugged a two-run home run to left-center to tack on two more runs for Pittsburgh. Fellow prospect Jackson Glenn gave the Pirates back-to-back homers with a long ball of his own immediately after Gutierrez.

The Braves (1-3) scored three runs off of Pirates starter Marco Gonzales. Sean Murphy recorded a pair of RBI-singles and David Fletcher drove in a run off of Gonzales with a base hit. Atlanta extended their lead to 4-0 in the third inning on a Luke Williams single to center field.

NOTABLE PERFORMANCES

• Ke’Bryan Hayes, Bryan Reynolds, Abrahan Gutierrez and Jackson Glenn combined to drive in nine runs on their four homers.
• Oneil Cruz drew a pair of walks and scored two runs. Jack Suwinski doubled, reached on a walk and scored once.
• Marco Gonzales was knocked around in his first start of the spring. He went 1.2 innings, allowed three runs on six hits, one walk and one hit batter. He struck out a pair.
• Luis Ortiz covered a pair of innings and allowed one unearned run on one hit and one walk while striking out two batters. His fastball velocity was sitting comfortably in the 96-99 mph range.
• Jose Hernandez (1-0) was credited with the win after a scoreless inning of relief.

UP NEXT

The Pittsburgh Pirates are back at LECOM Park on Wednesday when they welcome the Detroit Tigers. Quinn Priester is expected to get the start for the Pirates and will be opposite left-hander Tarik Skubal. First pitch: 1:05.