Braves dig early hole and lose to Pirates 11-5

Ray Kerr struggled early and the Atlanta Braves never recovered in an 11-5 loss Friday night to the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Kerr was recalled Friday and made his first career start. He found himself in trouble from Andrew McCutchen’s single, then moved to third on a one-out double by Connor Joe. Kerr struck out Edward Olivares for the second out, but couldn’t escape as Nick Gonzales singled to give the Pirates a 2-0 lead.

Kerr got through the second unscathed, but the Pirates got back to work in the third. Joe led off the inning with a double, then advanced to third on an errant takedown attempt by Kerr. Oliveras singled to make it 3-0. Kerr then retired Gonzales on a groundout and struck out Jared Triolo, but again couldn’t escape. A wild pitch moved Olivares to third and Oneil Cruz walked. Yasmani Grandal followed with a double down the right field line that scored both to make the lead 5-0.

Meanwhile, the Braves’ offense struggled against Pittsburgh left-hander Bailey Falter who retired the first nine men he faced. Ronald Acuña Jr. singled to start the fourth, but was erased on a double play. Marcell Ozuna doubled into the right center field, but Matt Olson got a groundout to end the inning.

Kerr came out after retiring the team in order in the fourth. It was a tough outing for him, allowing seven hits and five runs. He finished with one walk and six strikeouts while throwing 72 pitches.

Darius Vines came on in the fifth and couldn’t stop Pittsburgh’s momentum. A two-run homer by Triolo increased the lead to 7-0. The Pirates added three more runs in the sixth on an RBI single by Olivares and a two-run double by Gonzales to make it 10-0. A sacrifice fly by Michael A. Taylor in the seventh completed the scoring.

The Braves entered the game as the only team in the majors not to be shut out this season and finally broke through in the eighth inning. Michael Harris chose Falter to get things started. Zack Short drew a strikeout and Acuña brought everyone home with a home run to center field. That ended Falter’s night, but the offense wasn’t over. Ozzie Albies and Olson walked then scored on a double from Travis d’Arnaud to make the score 11-5.

Jesse Chavez had a scoreless eighth, but Atlanta came away quietly in the ninth.

The loss drops the Braves to 29-19 on the season. The series continues on Saturday with Reynaldo Lopez facing Mitch Keller.