Matt Gorski effectively captured the tone of the Pittsburgh Pirates’ 3-2 loss in 11 innings to the Atlanta Braves on Saturday night at PNC Park.
“For a 3-2, 11-inning game, (I) felt like there was so much that happened,” he said.
He wasn’t wrong.
A key event in the game was the ejection of manager Don Kelly in the sixth inning after he argued balls and strikes with home plate umpire Clint Vondrak.
Kelly, who had been promoted to manager just three days earlier following Derek Shelton’s dismissal, watched nearly half of the game on TV from the clubhouse.
Third base coach Mike Rabelo assumed managerial duties for the rest of the game since the team had yet to appoint a new bench coach.
Bryan Reynolds joined Kelly soon after, ejected by Vondrak after striking out looking to end the seventh inning.
By the time the Braves pushed across the winning run in the 11th on a wild pitch from reliever Chase Shugart, the Pirates’ bench had been depleted due to several substitutions, defensive changes, Reynolds’ ejection, and Oneil Cruz leaving the game with lower back tightness.
Kelly noted that Cruz is considered day-to-day.
“Obviously, I just disagreed with a few of the calls along the way and I’m always going to protect my guys,” Kelly said about his ejection. “That was really the extent of it.”
Kelly said Rabelo, handling both third base and managerial responsibilities, received help from pitching coach Oscar Marin and hitting coach Matt Hague.
“First time for him doing it, he did pretty well,” Kelly said of Rabelo’s efforts. “Especially in a close game.”
Kelly missed the pivotal play in the 11th, when Matt Olson scored from third on a wild pitch by Shugart that got past catcher Henry Davis and reached the backstop.
Shugart’s pitch was high and inside to Eli White and may have clipped his helmet.
However, Vondrak didn’t call it, and Kelly, watching from the clubhouse, couldn’t tell for certain.
“It was really close watching the TV,” Kelly said. “It was inconclusive to me watching. Really tough to tell.”
Shugart (1-3, 3.31 ERA) took the loss on Saturday.
Olson began the 11th as the Braves’ automatic runner and moved to third on an Ozzie Albies groundout.
The Pirates (13-27) couldn’t make the most of a solid outing from starter Andrew Heaney, who bounced back from two rough starts to go six innings, allowing two runs on four hits with three walks and two strikeouts.
Heaney (2-3, 3.15 ERA), who received a no-decision, gave up an RBI double to Michael Harris in the second inning and a solo shot to Olson in the third, giving Atlanta a 2-0 lead.
He settled down after that, throwing 82 pitches, 49 for strikes.
“Just a little bit of bad direction early,” Heaney said. “Felt myself closing, pulling myself off. Felt like I got a couple things figured out as the game went on.”
Heaney was pitching in the sixth when Kelly was tossed.
The 33-year-old left-hander had just thrown ball two to Olson when Kelly was ejected for voicing his frustration over the strike zone.
Though Heaney chose not to confront the umpire himself, he appreciated Kelly doing so.
“I’m not somebody that likes to have those conversations in the game,” Heaney said. “It’s just not really my personality. I want to go out there and pitch and deal with the circumstances as they are, as they’re happening, so I appreciate when I feel like I’m not really in a position to sort of vocalize those things. That somebody can pick up that slack for me, I appreciate it.”
Down by two early, the Pirates responded in the third inning when Joey Bart drove in Cruz with a single. Cruz had reached by beating a potential double play and then stole second.
Bart, later replaced behind the plate by Davis in the ninth, finished 4-for-4 with an RBI in the loss.
In the eighth, Gorski tied the game at 2-2 with an infield single that scored Ji Hwan Bae from third.
Bae pinch-ran for Bart after his fourth hit, stole second, and advanced to third on a Ke’Bryan Hayes grounder.
Unfortunately for Pittsburgh, Gorski’s timely hit stood out in a night filled with missed chances.
The Pirates stranded 14 runners and went just 2-for-18 with runners in scoring position.
They couldn’t cash in on Alexander Canario’s leadoff double in the seventh, left the bases loaded in the eighth following Gorski’s RBI, and came up empty in the ninth after leadoff walks by Tommy Pham and Cruz.
In the 10th, Davis was thrown out at home attempting to score on a Gorski ground ball to third.
Their last opportunity came in the 11th, when Canario, the automatic runner, advanced to third on a Jared Triolo bunt.
But Liover Peguero, subbed in for the 11th, struck out looking, and Pham—who took over for Reynolds in the eighth—grounded out to end the game.
“When we’re talking about hitting and everybody wants to be the guy to come through, staying within ourselves and finding a way to put a good swing on it,” Kelly said. “Gorski came up in that situation, putting the ball in play, finding a way to get it done. Need to continue to stay within ourselves and put good swings on good pitches.”
Atlanta starter AJ Smith-Shawver went 5 2/3 innings and didn’t factor into the decision.
Scott Blewett (2-0, 2.79 ERA) pitched the 10th and 11th innings for the Braves and earned the win.
Reynolds went 0-for-4 and committed two defensive misplays on doubles by Marcell Ozuna and Harris in right field early on, though he wasn’t charged with any errors.
