The Atlanta Braves defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates 10-5 Thursday afternoon at PNC Park. The Pirates received another day of poor pitching from Mitch Keller and their bullpen.
Keller allowed three earned runs on four hits over just three innings. Cam Sanders relieved Keller and didn’t complete the fourth inning, allowing another three earned runs. After the Bucs got back to within one run, Dennis Santana allowed a grand slam in the top of the ninth to allow the Braves to blow the game open and take the series.
Jake Mangum had four of the Pirates eight hits and drove in three of their five runs. Bryan Reynolds and Esmerlyn Valdez added solo home runs.
With the two Thursday home runs, the Pirates have now hit 117 home runs this season. That ties what the team hit all of last year, in just 94 games.
But, the Pirates were 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base.
The Bucs have fallen back to .500 this season at 47-47 and host the first-place Milwaukee Brewers for a three-game series beginning tonight at 6:40pm. WISR pre-game begins at 6:15pm. All-Star Braxton Ashcraft will start for the Pirates.
The Brewers now lead the Pirates by 12-1/2 games in the N.L. Central Division. The Bucs are now five games behind in the Wild Card chase.
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