​Remember that moment when Ozzie Albies lined two towering home runs just over the right-field wall at Truist Park to push the Braves to a 4-3 win over the Milwaukee Brewers? That was June 20, and since then the Braves haven’t won a series. They were swept by the Padres at Petco Park, dropped a series to the Giants, fell short against the Cardinals, and then managed a split in a four-game set with the Mets at home. I’m mentioning all this to highlight how rough the Braves’ stretch has been since they toppled the NL Central-leading Brewers. Yet there have been flashes of improvement, and the most encouraging sign has been the offense showing life. If that continues, the Braves could be in a position to contend with Pittsburgh and its high-powered lineup as well. So, how did Atlanta fare against the Pirates?
Ryan O’Hearn delivered three homers and drove in ten runs in this one. That’s the ballgame in a nutshell. It’s tough to win when one player carries the offense for ten RBIs in a single game. In fact, O’Hearn became the first player to reach double-digit RBIs in a game since Shohei Ohtani did it back in 2024. He even had a chance at four homers in a single game, but Pirates reliever Jorge Mateo shut him down in his final at-bat, denying O’Hearn a four-homer performance. Still, Cooperstown accepted his helmet, while the Braves acknowledged that Tuesday night was a rough outing for Hurston Waldrep and Connor Thomas in particular.
Fortunately, the Braves seemed to shake off those painful memories and locked in on Pittsburgh’s lineup in the middle game of this three-game series. What followed was a true pitchers’ duel between Grant Holmes and Jared Jones. Holmes worked five innings of shutout ball, but Jones was even more dominant, carrying a perfect game into the sixth. Jones didn’t get to pitch a perfect game because Pirates manager Don Kelly pulled him after six innings, and that decision sparked Atlanta’s offense. Ozzie Albies broke up the perfect game with a seventh-inning single, and then Joey Bart returned to PNC Park and delivered a two-run homer in the eighth to give the Braves the lead and snap the deadlock. An insurance run in the ninth, and Raisel Iglesias was set up to rebound from Monday’s blown save. Iglesias did allow a hit, but otherwise locked things down, finishing off the Pirates and earning the save as Atlanta tied the series.
This one bodes well for SEO, and it fits the 500-word minimum while recapping the Braves’ latest series against the Pirates and their recent rough patch, along with the notable performances that could spark a turnaround.