PITTSBURGH – James McDonald pitched seven innings, Ronny Cedeno’s triple keyed a five-run seventh and the last-place Pittsburgh Pirates beat the slumping Atlanta Braves for the second straight day Tuesday, this time 5-0.
The Braves dropped into second place in the National League East, one-half game behind Philadelphia, which beat Florida 8-7. The Braves had been in sole possession of the division lead since May 31.
It’s easy to find a culprit for the Braves’ slide: They have scored only 12 runs while losing five of six games after a five-game winning streak. The Pirates had lost seven of nine and were on pace to lose 109 games before winning the first two games of the three-game series.
Tim Hudson (15-7), losing his second straight start after winning six in a row, held the Pirates to three hits over six shutout innings, but he retired only one batter during the Pirates’ breakthrough seventh. He was charged with four runs after pitching 28 consecutive innings against Pittsburgh without allowing an earned run.
Garrett Jones and Pedro Alvarez doubled in succession with one out for the game’s first run. After Ryan Doumit was intentionally walked, Cedeno tripled off the right-field wall to make it 3-0.
Hudson left one batter later, and reliever Eric O’Flaherty gave up pinch-hitter Delwyn Young’s two-run homer into the left-field bleachers. Young’s seventh homer was the Pirates’ first by a pinch-hitter in 29 at-bats.
McDonald, a former Dodgers prospect, made the most effective of his seven starts with Pittsburgh and his first against Atlanta, limiting the Braves to five hits.
Joel Hanrahan closed it out in the ninth – following a 43-minute rain delay. Evan Meek pitched a scoreless eighth as the three pitchers combined for Pittsburgh’s sixth shutout. Atlanta has been shut out 10 times this season.
The Braves twice looked like they might break through against McDonald, who gave up 14 earned runs in 16 1/3 innings while losing his last three starts.
They put two on with two outs in the fifth, but McDonald got Hudson to pop up.
An inning later, the Braves loaded the bases when Jason Heyward walked, Martin Prado doubled for only his second hit in 20 at-bats in PNC Park this season and Brian McCann was intentionally walked, but Derrek Lee grounded into a double play.
Lee, acquired from the Cubs to give the Braves a much-needed power bat down the stretch, has yet to homer and is batting .228 (13-for-57) in 17 games with Atlanta. Lee was hitless in four at-bats.
Derek Lowe, who starts tonight for the Braves, is 9-0 against the Pirates – the top unbeaten record by a current major league pitcher against any opponent.
The Braves’ Bobby Cox is the last NL manager or player to remain continuously with his club since the Pirates last had a winning season in 1992. Cox’s Braves beat Pittsburgh in the 1991 and 1992 NLCS.