It seemed another Braves game was going to come down to the wire.
Although they had led since the opening inning and saw that lead grow to 6-2 in the fourth inning, it was gradually chipped away until Atlanta was clinging to a 6-5 lead over the Pittsburgh Pirates entering the ninth inning.
Mike Yastrzemski gave the Braves insurance and then some with a two-out grand slam that kept everyone’s nails intact, allowing Atlanta to not use closer Raisel Iglesias and pull away for a 10-5 win in Thursday afternoon’s rubber match at PNC Park.
As is often the case with this offense, it was powered by home runs, three of them in total. Matt Olson gave the Braves a 1-0 lead in the top of the first with a mammoth homer to right off Pirates starter Mitch Keller (6-7). It was Olson’s 25th of the season and came on the same day he tied Dale Murphy’s franchise record by playing in his 740th consecutive game.
After Atlanta tacked on two more in the third on Ozzie Albies’ RBI double and Mauricio Dubón’s RBI single, the Pirates got two runs back in the bottom of the inning on back-to-back homers by Bryan Reynolds and Esmerlyn Valdez in a three-pitch span off Braves starter Bryce Elder.
But the Braves responded, putting up a three-run spot in the fourth. After Yastrzemski’s 10-pitch walk, Jim Jarvis sparked the inning with his first career homer, a two-run shot to right, and Drake Baldwin made it 6-2 with a two-out RBI single.
Jarvis added a double and a single to finish a triple short of a cycle, finishing with not just his first three-hit game but his first multi-hit game at the major league level. Baldwin (2-for-4) was the only other Brave with multiple hits, but the offense racked up 11 hits with eight of the nine starters notching hits.
Keller lasted just three innings thanks to an extended third inning, allowing three runs on four hits.
The strong early showing for the offense which had managed seven total runs in the first two games of the series was needed as Elder again labored through a fairly short outing.
After stranding two runners on base in the first two innings and giving up the back-to-back jacks in the third, he got tagged again for a homer in the fourth, this time a two-run shot by Jake Mangum.
Elder finished allowing four runs (three earned) on five hits over four innings, striking out three and walking two. While he didn’t get through five innings to be eligible for the win, Elder did snap a three-game losing streak.
The win went to Dylan Dodd (2-0), who threw a 1-2-3 fifth before the game went into a weather delay.
That began a strong combined showing for the bullpen, which had to cover five innings. JR Ritchie issued a leadoff walk in each of his two innings but allowed just one run, with an assist by Danny Young, who got a double play in relief of Ritchie to escape a seventh-inning jam.
James Karinchak also issued a leadoff walk in the eighth, stranding the runner at third thanks to a nice play by Olson at first on a hard-hit ball.
After Yastrzemski’s slam, Victor Mederos got the ninth inning. He allowed a leadoff single but retired the next three batters, two on strikeouts, to close out the series win.
It’s just the second series win for the Braves since their sweep of the Pirates June 5-7 in Atlanta. They’ll look to make it two in a row entering the All-Star break this weekend in St. Louis, starting Friday night at 8:15 EDT on Apple TV.
