​This article originally appeared on PGHBaseballNOW.com. Jared Jones delivered six perfect innings for the Pirates before handing the ball to the bullpen, but the Braves found a way to turn the game in their favor as Joey Bart, facing his former club, powered Atlanta to a 3-0 victory at PNC Park on Wednesday. Bart supplied a crucial two-run homer in the eighth inning to break the tie and provide the winning margin, giving the Braves the man advantage in a game that began with strong pitching and tight defense.
In the top of the eighth, with the score still deadlocked at 0-0, Bart delivered the decisive hit, sending a two-out, two-run homer to left field off Dennis Santana to clear the scoreboard and put Atlanta ahead. The Braves continued to apply pressure in the late innings, and in the top of the ninth, they added another run against Isaac Mattson. Drake Baldwin singled home Michael Harris II, who had reached on a single to center, extending the lead to 3-0 and giving Atlanta some additional insurance.
The game’s defining moment came earlier when Ozzie Albies broke up the perfect-game bid with a single to left field with one out in the seventh inning. The hit narrowly eluded the glove of third baseman Nick Gonzales, as the ball ticked off his glove during the leap, keeping the bid alive before the run of events that would eventually lead to the Braves’ victory.
Before that seventh-inning highlight, Santana had an efficient start, retiring the first two batters he faced in the eighth before Bart’s big swing changed the course of the game. The sequence began with Mike Yastrzemski doubling, setting the stage for Bart to deliver the two-run blast on the first pitch of the at-bat, left-center field, and provide Atlanta with the margin they would not relinquish.
The Braves improved to 53-38 on the season, leveraging timely hitting, a near-perfect performance by their bullpen, and a late-inning surge to secure the win. The Pirates, meanwhile, saw their starter Jones offer a strong outing but ultimately fall short as the bullpen came under pressure in the late innings.
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