Final score Braves vs Pirates: Atlanta wins a 2-1 draw

Excitement was high for a premium pitching matchup Saturday between Max Fried and Paul Skenes.

Max Fried looked good in the first two at-bats, striking out Andrew McCutchen, but began to struggle with his command, working three full counts and allowing a single and a walk before preserving the first scoreless. In the bottom half, Jarred Kelenic threw a 98 MPH fastball to the top of the zone and hit a line-drive home run to the chop house.

Skenes didn’t give up any extra runs in the inning, but he did allow a single to Ozzie and a completely scalded double play (109.3 MPH) by Ozuna. Orlando Arcia got a runner on base in the second inning when he missed a barehanded attempt and a single by Grandal generated real pressure for Fried, but a strikeout and a flyout ended the scoreless inning. After a quiet second inning and a third inning, Skenes found himself in a tough situation with the bases loaded with one out in the third inning. A bunt by Arcia and walks to Kelenic and Albies set that up, but Marcell Ozuna had another hard-hit ball (106.2) that turned into a double play to end the inning.

The fourth went without incident, despite singles from Riley and Arnaud. Max found himself in a similar hole to Skenes earlier, as a bloop single and two walks loaded the bases with one out. A sac fly brought in a run to tie the game, but Fried was able to strike out Gonzales to preserve the tie. A one-out bloop single by Kelenic presented an opportunity to regain the lead for Atlanta, but it came to nothing as Ozzie grounded out and Marcell struck out. Fried allowed a leadoff single in his sixth and final inning, but got three outs through contact to escape the inning and cap off what was a solid 6.0 inning outing with just 1 earned run, but 3 walks and only 4 strikeouts. Skenes struck out the team in his final inning: the bottom of the sixth.

It was now a battle of the relievers, with the game tied with three innings to play. Pierce Johnson got the first call for Atlanta and pitched a 1-2-3 inning capped by a pinch-hitting Oneil Cruz on a Cruz automatic that didn’t get into the box fast enough. The bottom of the Atlanta order offered nothing against the Pirates’ bullpen and Joe Jimenez got the eighth for Atlanta. Joe ran into some trouble, issuing two walks after a strikeout, but got away with a groundout and a scary flyout. To start the eighth at home, Kelenic hit a high deep ball that would have been a home run in 9 major league ballparks, but not this one in 2024 baseballs, as he didn’t get a flyout that was the first in a 1-2-3 inning for the top of the Atlanta offense.

Iglesias got to ninth base and threw out the first two batters before allowing a triple on a very catchable ball that narrowly eluded Adam Duvall and nearly turned into a run on an errant throw to third base. Fortunately, a bunt ended the threat for Pittsburgh, giving Atlanta a walk-off opportunity with the middle of their order facing Aroldis Chapman. The winning run came on base with one out on a walk by Austin Riley. D’Arnaud was thrown out, and Snit turned to Sean Murphy with two outs as a pinch hitter trying to win the game on the spot. Murphy was thrown out on a 102 MPH fastball and we moved on to Manfredball.

Daysbell Hernandez scored the 10th for Atlanta and a ground ball advanced the zombie runner to third base. A wild throw sent the runner home, but a great bounce on net, a nice throw from d’Arnaud, a great tag from Hernandez and a horrible slide resulted in an out instead of a point for the Pirates during recovery.

Daysbell, in fine form, struck out the batter to end the inning, giving the Braves another chance to put away, but starting with Duvall in eighth, but a runner on second this time. Duvall actually did the right thing and grounded out with a ball hit against the wall, giving the Braves a fun series win in a marquee game.

Join us tomorrow as the Braves attempt to embark on a somewhat strange Roku-exclusive game on Sunday morning at 11:35 a.m. ET.