PITTSBURGH — Coming off the draining experience of back-to-back tight losses to the team currently sporting the best record in Major League Baseball and facing an early deficit against the same opponent, the Pittsburgh Pirates could have bailed.
It’s August. They’re essentially out of the playoff mix in the National League after failing to stay hot enough since a scorching start. Their focus over the final third of the season is essentially trying to see how far along the young core they’ve been cultivating has come.
That core provided a pretty emphatic answer Thursday afternoon, rallying past the Atlanta Braves to win 7-5 and earn a four-game split against a franchise that has long been in a place where the Pirates are trying to go.
“We gave them all they wanted this series,” Pittsburgh outfielder Bryan Reynolds said. “It was good to get this one and even it out.”
Ke’Bryan Hayes drove in three runs for the third straight game for Pittsburgh, which won Monday’s series opener 7-6 before losing 8-6 on Tuesday and 6-5 on Wednesday. Liover Peguero knocked in two runs Thursday, and newly acquired reliever Thomas Hatch picked up his first win in nearly three years as the Pirates (52-63) finished off an eight-game stretch against division leaders Atlanta and Milwaukee a respectable 4-4.
“That’s what winning teams do,” Hatch said. “I think for them to do it at this age shows what is on the horizon.”
Hatch, a 28-year-old right-hander claimed off waivers from the Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday, worked four scoreless innings in relief of Bailey Falter. Colin Holderman worked around an RBI single by Ronald Acuña Jr. in the ninth to earn the second save of his career.
“I like where we are right now as far as playing hard, doing the little things,” Hayes said. “That’s what it’s going to take to win ballgames, compete with the good teams.”
Atlanta first baseman Matt Olson hit his 40th home run of the season, moving into a tie with Shohei Ohtani of the American League’s Los Angeles Angels for the MLB lead, but he struck out looking to end the game with Acuña on third base.
Orlando Arcia also homered for the Braves (72-41) and Austin Riley added three hits, but Bryce Elder — the 24-year-old right-hander was a first-time All-Star this season — couldn’t protect an early 4-0 lead and dropped his second straight start.
The Braves are comfortably atop the NL East as they chase a sixth straight division title, but their starting pitching has hit a rough spot. Elder (8-4) gave up five runs and six hits with two walks and five strikeouts in five innings, and Atlanta’s starters have posted an ERA of 10.59 over the club’s past six games.
The bullpen did enough to help the Braves pull out taut wins late on Tuesday and Wednesday. Not this time around.
Pittsburgh took the lead in the sixth off Atlanta reliever Joe Jimenez and pulled away in the seventh. Reynolds led off the seventh with a single, and Hayes followed with a triple to the gap in right-center field to become the first Pirate to drive in three runs in three consecutive games since outfielder Jason Bay did it from May 24-27, 2006.
Hayes, all of 26, suddenly finds himself one of the elder statesmen on a team that includes Peguero, catcher/outfielder Henry Davis, outfielder Jack Suwinski and injured shortstop Oneil Cruz.
While not everyone will stick, the vibe — particularly since the trade deadline early last week — has shifted. The future in Pittsburgh is edging closer, and the Pirates hope what they’ve shown of late is a glimpse of what’s to come.
“It’s very easy against really good teams when you get in deficit games when you have a young club, and even more so on a day game when you’re getting beat, it’s easy to not continue to grind through your at-bats,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “That’s why I’m so proud of them.”
The Braves fell to 3-4 on an 11-game road trip that will continue this weekend with a four-game series against the New York Mets, and Atlanta is also in a stretch of 14 games in 13 days without a break.
Atlanta right-hander Charlie Morton (10-10, 3.86 ERA) is set to start Friday’s series opener in New York, where the Mets will counter with right-hander Tylor Megill (6-5, 5.45).