Pittsburgh 3, Atlanta 2
When: 7:10 PM ET, Tuesday, September 23, 2014
Where: Turner Field, Atlanta, Georgia
Temperature:
72°
Umpires:
Home -
Hunter Wendelstedt, 1B -
Manny Gonzalez, 2B -
Jerry Layne, 3B -
Mike Estabrook
Attendance:
23029
By SportsDirect Inc.
Pirates 3, Braves 2: Travis Snider homered and Andrew McCutchen went 2-for-2 with two runs scored as visiting Pittsburgh clinched a playoff spot with its 11th victory in 13 games.
Starling Marte finished 2-for-4, doubling home McCutchen in the sixth inning as the Pirates -- coupled with Milwaukee's loss at Cincinnati -- clinched a postseason berth for the second consecutive season. Gerrit Cole (11-5) gave up two runs on four hits with eight strikeouts in seven innings as the Pirates moved one game ahead of San Francisco for the top National League wild-card spot and pulled within 1 1/2 games of St. Louis in the NL Central.
The Braves, who had scored 15 runs in their previous 10 games, took a 2-0 lead after two innings but could not hold the advantage, losing their fifth in a row and 13th in the past 15 games. Alex Wood (11-11) surrendered three runs (two earned) on seven hits with two walks and six strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings.
Freddie Freeman’s RBI double in the first scored Phil Gosselin to put Atlanta out in front – its first lead in five games – and Jason Heyward scored on Andrelton Simmons’ double-play grounder in the second to make it 2-0. McCutchen singled leading off the fourth and scored on catcher Christian Bethancourt’s throwing error, and Snider’s homer to right on the first pitch of the fifth tied the contest.
McCutchen led off the sixth with a double to left and, after Russell Martin lined out to short, Marte flicked a double to left-center to chase home McCutchen and put the Pirates ahead. Cole retired the final 17 hitters he faced, Jared Hughes pitched a scoreless eighth and Tony Watson worked the ninth for his second save.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Pittsburgh 3B Josh Harrison extended his hitting streak to 11 games, going 1-for-4; Harrison is second in the NL in batting average at .317, three points behind Colorado’s Justin Morneau and four ahead of McCutchen. … Martin went 0-for-4 to snap his 13-game hitting streak (two shy of his career high), but Marte extended his streak to eight games and has hit safely in 18 of his past 19 contests. … Heyward returned to the lineup after missing four games with a bruised left thumb, going 0-for-2 with a walk.
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
| Pittsburgh |
|
Atlanta |
|
Gerrit Cole
|
Player |
Alex Wood
|
|
Win |
W/L |
Loss |
|
7.0 |
IP |
6.2 |
|
8 |
Strikeouts |
6 |
|
4 |
Hits |
7 |
|
2.57 |
ERA |
2.70 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Hits |
HR |
TB |
Avg |
LOB |
K |
RBI |
BB |
SB |
Errors |
| Pittsburgh
|
8 |
1 |
13 |
.242 |
16 |
9 |
2 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
| Atlanta
|
6 |
0 |
7 |
.214 |
6 |
9 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
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