![\"Braves](\"https:\/\/www.ajc.com\/resizer\/v2\/G7AABIJUZGTTZIAXP622EHPB2A.jpg?auth=221957cd7f31d061099e3e57ef947b2a42a30a0937bfb7ab9bc99ade2006dba0&height=1000&smart=true\")
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PITTSBURGH \u2014 The table was set for the Braves Sunday to reach .500 for the first time this season.<\/p>\n
They had reigning National League Cy Young Award winner Chris Sale on the mound. They were facing a Pittsburgh Pirates starter with a hefty ERA.<\/p>\n
Win, even the record, take the series against a careening team and enjoy Mother\u2019s Day.<\/p>\n
Hopefully, the last objective was accomplished, because the other three were not. Against a team with the third-worst record in baseball, the Braves fell short to the Pirates, losing 4-3 in walk-off fashion in the bottom of the ninth at PNC Park.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are a lot better team than what we\u2019ve shown,\u201d manager Brian Snitker said.<\/p>\n
The Braves\u2019 fifth attempt to reach .500, the third in the past five games, was as unsuccessful as the first four. Remarkably, the Braves have lost each by one run and have failed to score more than three runs in any of the games.<\/p>\n
And in the process, the Braves lost a series to a team that had played so poorly it had gotten its manager fired Thursday.<\/p>\n
The Braves are 19-21. Pittsburgh is 14-27.<\/p>\n
Said Sale, \u201cI wouldn\u2019t exactly hit the panic button yet, but we\u2019ve got to win series.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Braves were stymied at the plate through the weekend, hitting .194 (20-for-103) with one home run. A Braves team with four Silver Slugger winners in the lineup could not do enough to support a pitching staff that limited Pittsburgh to 10 runs in three games.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s definitely been frustrating and we can\u2019t keep asking the pitchers to (have) two-run, three-run ballgames,\u201d said one of those Silver Slugger winners, third baseman Austin Riley. \u201cAt some point, we\u2019ve got to open up this thing offensively. It\u2019s frustrating. Guys are working hard. You\u2019re seeing them work. Just not getting the results and it\u2019s frustrating.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n With a quarter of the season in the books, the Braves are the picture of an average offense.<\/p>\n Through Saturday\u2019s games, they ranked 13th in home runs, 21st in runs scored, 21st in batting average, 17th in on-base percentage, 18th in strikeout percentage and 14th in hard-hit percentage.<\/p>\n Snitker admitted to being exasperated by the offense not surfacing. The production shortage does come with the caveat that the team is waiting for the return of 2023 National League MVP Ronald Acu\u00f1a Jr. from an ACL tear that ended his 2024 season after 49 games.<\/p>\n He continues to rehabilitate the injury and is expected to be back in late May or early June.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ll turn this thing around,\u201d Snitker said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to hit. We\u2019re not going to not hit for the next five months or four months.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Sunday, as has become custom, the Braves saved their offense for late. Down 3-0 in the top of the eighth, they scored all three of their runs on a two-out, bases-loaded double by pinch-hitter Sean Murphy.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve got to start scoring more runs,\u201d Snitker said. \u201cI mean, we can\u2019t wait until the eighth inning and potentially blow up our bullpen again.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Pittsburgh finished off the Braves in the bottom of the ninth. Snitker called on Raisel Iglesias, who had been given a two-day rest for the first two games of the series after giving up his sixth home run of the season on Thursday.<\/p>\n Iglesias had some tough luck. He gave up two singles (91 and 60 miles per hour), followed by a groundout and an intentional walk to load the bases.<\/p>\n Pirates catcher Joey Bart, from Buford High and Georgia Tech, capped a stupendous weekend by hitting a 74-mph grounder to shortstop Nick Allen, whose throw to the plate was late and allowed the winning run to score.<\/p>\n With that, the Braves\u2019 sixth consecutive one-run game was over. They\u2019re 3-3 in those games.<\/p>\n \u201cIt wasn\u2019t like they were beating (Iglesias) all over the ballpark,\u201d Snitker said.<\/em><\/p>\n The Braves\u2019 difficulties at the plate continued. Carmen Mlodzinski came into the game with a 6.16 ERA in seven starts.<\/p>\n He had been particularly ineffective in his second and third times through the lineup, allowing teams to hit .424 in their second trips through the order and .333 in the third.<\/p>\n But the Braves failed to score against Mlodzinski and managed four hits off him before he left the game with one out to go in the top of the sixth.<\/p>\n By that point, the Pirates led 3-0, scoring all of the runs in the bottom of the fifth off Sale. They used three singles, a double steal, a passed ball, a walk and a sacrifice fly. Sale went 5 2\/3 innings with the three runs allowed, two earned.<\/p>\n \u201cI thought he threw the ball OK,\u201d Snitker said. \u201cHoly cow, it\u2019s O.K. to win 5-3, too.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Strider reports on bullpen session<\/p>\n Braves ace Spencer Strider met with media prior to Sunday\u2019s game for an update on his hamstring strain suffered April 21 after his first start of the season. Strider, who underwent season-ending elbow surgery in April 2024, threw his second bullpen session since the hamstring injury. Sunday, he said he felt great, giving credit to a platelet-poor plasma injection after his first bullpen session.<\/p>\n \u201cObviously, we\u2019re in the middle of a 17-game stretch, so I\u2019m sure that\u2019s going to play a factor in what pitch count they feel is safe and that kind of stuff, in terms of where the bullpen\u2019s at and where the pitching staff\u2019s at,\u201d Strider said. \u201cI feel good about my chances to give us a chance to win if I\u2019m out there, but it\u2019s not up to me.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Strider said there would be a discussion upon the team\u2019s return to Atlanta following Sunday\u2019s game to determine the team\u2019s course, e<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" PITTSBURGH \u2014 The table was set for the Braves Sunday to reach .500 for the first time this season. They had reigning National League Cy Young Award… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":54653,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"\n