Max Fried outduels JT Brubaker as Braves beat Pirates, who lose 4th consecutive game

When Michael Chavis homered off Max Fried in the second inning, it gave the impression that the Pittsburgh Pirates had a chance at hitting the Atlanta Braves left-hander.

It was but a blip.

Fried retired the next 16 batters, and the Braves batted around the order in a five-run fifth inning to roll to a 6-1 win over the Pirates on Tuesday night before 13,367 at PNC Park.

“We know we’re going to have to score multiple runs,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “It’s challenging with (Fried), but (Chavis) took a good swing early and gave us the lead. It gives you the thought, ‘All right, he leaves some balls in the middle of the plate. We’re going to be able to get to him.’ After that, he didn’t leave anything in the middle of the plate.”

Fried (12-4) was brutally efficient in outdueling JT Brubaker to hand the Pirates their fourth consecutive loss. The Pirates will attempt to avoid a three-game sweep when they play the series finale at 12:35 p.m. Wednesday.

Where Fried allowed three hits and one walk while striking out seven on 95 pitches in eight innings, Brubaker (3-11) gave up six runs on nine hits and one walk while striking out eight on 98 pitches in 6 2/3 innings.

“It’s frustrating,” said Brubaker, who was coming off an 8-2 win over the Boston Red Sox in which he allowed two hits in seven scoreless innings. “It’s not something that you ever really expect to happen that quick. Like I said, I have to find a way to change up the tempo and recognize it sooner.”

Fried had allowed seven homers in 145 1/3 innings over 23 starts this season but surrendered one for the second consecutive game. Chavis has fared well against lefties, slashing .272/.303/.469 with six doubles, a triple, seven homers and 23 RBIs. He added to those totals by sending a 1-1 slider 373 feet to the left-field corner for his 13th home run to give the Pirates a 1-0 lead.

Brubaker struck out six of the first 12 batters he faced — with four looking at called third strikes — through the first four innings. That changed when he gave up five runs on six consecutive hits before getting an out, as the Braves batted around the order.

“They were jumping on my offspeed pitches, and I didn’t recognize it soon enough to go back to the heater attack,” Brubaker said.

Travis d’Arnaud started by blasting a 409-foot solo shot to left for his 13th homer to tie the score at 1-1. William Contreras followed with a single and Michael Harris a 404-foot double to the North Side Notch in left center. That put runners in scoring position for Vaughn Grissom, who lined a single past third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes — who was activated earlier in the day — to score Contreras for a 2-1 Braves lead.

Robbie Grossman singled to score Harris to make it 3-1, then Ronald Acuna Jr. singled to right to load the bases. Dansby Swanson hit a flare that should have been a double-play ball, but second baseman Rodolfo Castro bobbled it and got only the forceout at second. That allowed Grissom to score for a 4-1 lead and Grossman to reach third, from where he scored on Austin Riley’s sacrifice fly to center for a 5-1 Braves lead.

“I think four of the six hits happened within five pitches. It happened quick,” Brubaker said. “My mentality is always to get on the mound and get the next guy, you’re always one pitch away. But that one pitch might not be the right pitch selection.”

Brubaker was replaced with two outs in the seventh by Chase De Jong with runners on first and third. Riley singled to left to score Acuna for a 6-1 lead. De Jong retired the next seven batters he faced.

“It was early-count damage on breaking balls that stayed up,” Shelton said. “It looked like he kind of lost the feel for his breaking ball. When it stayed up, they took advantage of it.”

The Pirates didn’t get another hit off Fried until Ben Gamel’s bloop single to left in the seventh. Jason Delay added another single in the eighth, but Fried stranded Pirates runners on first and third.

“I view it as he’s really good,” Shelton said. “This is a guy that’s leading the National League in a lot of categories, and he executed. I thought the cutter was really good. He was able to run that in on right-handers. If he did leave many balls in the middle of the plate, we didn’t capitalize on it.”