Braves vs Pirates Final Score: Atlanta Wins Thriller 2-1

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

Max Fried played the role in the first two batters, striking out Andrew McCutchen, but began to struggle with his command, working three full counts and allowing a single and a walk before keeping the first scoreless . In the bottom half, Jarred Kelenic threw a 98 MPH fastball to the top of the zone and launched 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 an absolutely scalding 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 spot with the bases loaded with one out in the third. A bunt by Arcia and walks to Kelenic and Albies set that up, but Marcell Ozuna got another hard-hit ball (106.2) that turned into a double play to end the inning.

The fourth inning was uneventful, despite singles by Riley and Arnaud. Max found himself in a similar situation to Skenes earlier, with a bloop single and two walks loading the bases with one out. A sacrifice fly brought in a run to tie the game, but Fried was able to strike out Gonzales to preserve the tie. A bloop single by Kelenic with one out gave Atlanta a chance to regain the lead, 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 via contact to escape the inning and finish what was a solid 6.0 inning outing with just 1 earned run, but 3 walks and only 4 strikeouts. Skenes struck out all three batters in his final inning: the bottom of the sixth.

It was now a battle between the relievers, with the game tied and three innings remaining. Pierce Johnson got the first call for Atlanta and pitched a 1-2-3 inning capped by a strikeout of Oneil Cruz’s pinch-hitter on a Cruz automatic strike that didn’t enter the box fast enough. The bottom of Atlanta’s 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 escaped 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 with 2024 baseballs, as he didn’t hit a flyout that was the first on a 1-2-3 innings for the top of the Atlanta offense.

Iglesias got the ninth and retired the first two batters before allowing a triple on a highly catchable ball that narrowly escaped Adam Duvall and almost turned into a run on an errant pitch to third. Fortunately, a bunt ended the threat for Pittsburgh, giving Atlanta a putback opportunity in the middle of their order against Aroldis Chapman. The winning run came with one out on a walk by Austin Riley. D’Arnaud struck out and Snit turned to Sean Murphy with two outs as a pinch hitter trying to win the game right away. Murphy struck out on a 102 MPH fastball and we went to Manfredball.

Daysbell Hernandez reached 10th for Atlanta and a ground ball propelled the zombie runner to third. A wild pitch sent the runner home, but a great bounce on the net, a nice throw by d’Arnaud, a great tag by Hernandez and a horrible slide resulted in an out instead of a run for the Pirates in the replay.

Daysbell, fired up, struck out the batter to end the inning, giving the Braves another chance to pull away, but starting with Duvall in the eighth, but a runner on second this time. Duvall did indeed do the deed and pulled it off with a ball hit off the wall, giving the Braves a fun series victory in a showpiece game.

Join us tomorrow as the Braves attempt to win a Sunday morning Roku-exclusive oddball game at 11:35 a.m. ET.