Martin Perez made his return from the 15-day injured list on Friday evening. Unfortunately for the Pirates, his best form did not accompany him to Atlanta. The veteran left-hander struggled significantly in his first start of the month, allowing six runs in just four innings, which led to a 6-1 loss to the Braves at Truist Park. In the bottom of the first inning, a few hard-hit foul balls foreshadowed more solid contact later. Austin Riley opened the scoring for the Braves with a solo home run to center field in the bottom of the second. The Braves then added five runs in the bottom of the third, effectively ending the game early. Luke Williams initiated Atlanta’s rally with a leadoff single to right field, followed by Perez walking Jarred Kelenic and an Ozzie Albies single to left, loading the bases for Marcell Ozuna, the National League’s RBI leader. With a full count, Ozuna cleared the bases with a double to left. Matt Olson then singled home Ozuna, making it five consecutive Braves to reach base. Although Perez tried to navigate through the difficult inning, Atlanta added one more run before he escaped on an RBI double from Adam Duvall. Perez returned to pitch a scoreless fourth inning, but his pitch count (92) was too high for him to continue. The change-up, which has been problematic for Perez all season, was once again an issue, as the Braves frequently hit it hard, most notably on Riley’s 107.2-mph exit velocity solo homer.
ON THE MOUND
AT THE PLATE
While Perez struggled, former Pirate Charlie Morton cruised to his fifth victory of the season, throwing 6 1/3 shutout innings. Morton carried a no-hitter into the top of the fifth, which was broken up by a single to center field from Ke’Bryan Hayes. He allowed just two other hits on the evening: an infield single to Andrew McCutchen and a ground-rule double to Nick Gonzales. Morton tallied seven strikeouts and walked just one batter. His best pitch of the evening was his curveball, which he threw 43 times and accounted for five of his seven punch-outs. Two innings after Morton’s exit, Hayes put the Pirates on the board in the top of the ninth with a double to right-center field, scoring Connor Joe. Perhaps the biggest positive of the night was a single to center field in the top of the eighth inning from Bryan Reynolds, which extended his hitting streak to 24 games. This mark ties Maury Wills for the longest hitting streak by a switch-hitter in Pirates history.
