The Pirates ran up the pitch count against Braves right-hander Mike Foltynewicz and then hit two home runs against reliever Josh Collmenter before hanging on for a 5-4 victory on Friday at frigid PNC Park.
After the Braves scored just five runs while dropping two of three games against the Mets, they appeared on their way to another offensive dud in the series opener in Pittsburgh. Then they rallied with three runs charged to reliever Wade LeBlanc in the eighth inning.
Nick Markakis rapped a one-out, RBI double against LeBlanc and Brandon Phillips followed with a two-run single that cut the deficit to 5-4. But Adonis Garcia grounded into a double play that shortstop Jordy Mercer completed by spinning on second base with one foot before throwing to first.
Braves catcher Kurt Suzuki reached base to lead off the ninth inning when reliever Tony Watson hit him with a pitch and went to second on Tyler Flowers’ ground out. Ender Inciarte grounded out and Dansby Swanson lined out to left field to end the game.
Foltynewicz allowed one run in the third inning and couldn’t make it through the fourth. Manager Brian Snitker replaced Foltynewicz after he gave up an RBI single to Starling Marte for a 2-0 deficit and issued consecutive walks to Josh Bell and Andrew McCutchen to load the bases with two outs.
Foltynewicz was visibly frustrated throughout the game by umpire Mark Ripperger’s strike zone. The young pitcher has struggled with keeping his composure when balls and strikes calls don’t go his way.
“It’s something we are just going to have to continue to work on,” Snitker said during his televised news conference on Fox Sports South. “This kid’s stuff is too good not to be successful, and he will (be).”
Left-hander Eric O’Flaherty replaced Foltynewicz and retired Gregory Polanco to end the inning, and the Braves cut the deficit to 2-1 on Ender Inciarte’s RBI double in the fifth. But Collmenter gave up back-to-back homers to David Freese and Francisco Cervelli in the bottom of the inning to put the Braves in a 4-1 hole.
“You want to keep the game in check right there and we couldn’t do that,” Snitker said. “But we came back and had our chances.”
The Pirates added Starling Marte’s RBI single against Chaz Roe in the seventh inning. The run was unearned after Josh Harrison had reached base on Phillips’ error.
The Braves got their run against Nova in the fifth, with an assist from strong winds.
With two outs in the fifth inning, Braves pinch hitter Emilio Bonifacio hit a fly ball to left fielder Gregory Polanco, who dropped it as the wind blew it away from him. Inciarte followed that two-base error with a double that scored Bonifacio. The next batter, Swanson, hit a line drive to shallow right field but Andrew McCutchen snagged it with a diving catch.
That was one of three times the Braves couldn’t break through with a big inning against Nova.
In the sixth inning Matt Kemp singled and Markakis hit a ground rule double before Phillips struck out and Garcia grounded out. Phillips grounded into a double play with the bases loaded and one out in the fourth. And Kemp, who had six extra-base hits during the three-game series against the Mets, hit a long fly ball in the first inning that center fielder Starling Marte caught at the warning track to leave a runner stranded.
Kemp left the game after hitting the single in the sixth, his second of the game. The team said he had tightness in is right hamstring and is day-to-day.
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