ATLANTA — What began as a promising road trip for the Pirates, taking two out of three from the Astros in Houston, ended with a thud.
Despite Bubba Chandler faring far better with an opener, Sunday's game flipped in the seventh inning, and the Pirates suffered a 3-2 loss to the Braves at Truist Park, Atlanta completing a three-game sweep.
It's the first time the Pirates have lost three straight road games all season, while Sunday's defeat dropped their record to 34-32 on the season.
The Pirates have now blown 14 saves, while they dropped to 27-6 when leading after six innings.
“Really tough loss. Tough series,” Pirates manager Don Kelly said. “Again, one hit away. Had opportunities. They got the big hit with guys on, and unfortunately we weren’t able to.”
After scoring 24 runs over three games at Daikin Park, the Pirates were limited to just eight in the Braves series. More specifically, they struggled to hit with runners in scoring position, going 2 for 11 Sunday and 6 for 29 (.207) across the entire series, stranding 18.
That was especially pronounced Sunday.
The Pirates loaded the bases with two outs in the eighth. However, Ryan O’Hearn bounced out to first to end the threat.
There was another missed opportunity in the ninth after Brandon Lowe, a day after lining a foul ball off his knee, cracked a pinch-hit double. Jake Mangum added a one-out, infield single. But Jared Triolo and Endy Rodriguez could not come through.
“I think in those times, guys try to do too much,” Kelly said. “Everybody wants to be the guy. We’ve had some stretches where we’ve been really good and put up a lot of runs. In those games, we’re getting the big hit, and we’re finding a way to drive those runs in.
“When you go through a series like this and that eludes you, especially against a team like Atlanta, we need to find a way to come up with that big hit and prevent them from getting the big hit.”
As solid as Chandler was through five innings, things unfortunately unraveled for him and the Pirates in the seventh inning following his only two walks of the afternoon.
When Braves manager Walt Weiss sent Michael Harris II to pinch-hit for Sandy Leon, Kelly countered with Evan Sisk, who’s pitched to a 0.81 ERA over his previous 19 appearances.
The move didn’t work. Sisk allowed an 0-1 sinker to catch too much plate, and Harris belted it into the right-field corner at 109.5 mph, clearing the bases and pushing the Braves in front at 3-2.
It’s a shame, too, because this was easily the best start of the season for Chandler, who entered in the second inning after Mason Montgomery opened.
Whether it was related to his deployment or pitching at home, where Chandler had a couple hundred friends and family in the stands, the native of Lawrenceville, Ga. showed how dominant he can be when he throws strikes.
Chandler allowed just one hit and threw a career-high 63.6% of his pitches (56 of 88) for strikes. That aggressive mindset led to seven strikeouts, second-most in a start this season, and a stretch where the right-hander sat down 13 in a row.
“I think coming out of the bullpen is a lot different,” said Chandler, who threw first-pitch strikes to 13 of 20. “A little different adrenaline. I think it was overall pretty good, just can't let stuff affect me. My best pitches beat those two hitters that I walked, so not happy about that. But move on."
You can make the argument that Kelly should’ve gone to Gregory Soto instead, although Sisk has been solid. The reality is that the Pirates don’t have any reliable setup options at the back end of their bullpen, a position general manager Ben Cherington said earlier in the day on the Pirates Insider Show the organization is looking to address.
Spencer Horwitz gave the Pirates an early jolt with his third leadoff home run of the season. It came on a full-count slider that Braves starter Bryce Elder left up in the zone. Horwitz crushed it 411 feet to right-center.
It was the third leadoff homer of the season for Horwitz, the fourth for the Pirates as team. They hit six all of last year. Pittsburgh’s four leadoff home runs are tied for fourth-most in MLB.
The home run helped Horwitz extend his on-base streak to career-high-tying 15 games dating back to May 23 at Toronto. Entering the game, Horwitz was hitting .296 (16 for 54) with a double, three home runs, four RBIs, eight walks and eight runs in that stretch.
Horwitz also had a 15-game on-base streak June 9-28, 2025.
Pittsburgh extended its lead to 2-0 in the top of the third inning. Walks to Jared Triolo and Henry Davis and Horwitz’s single loaded the bases, and a run scored when Nick Gonzales hit into a double play.
Looking ahead
Lowe was moving gingerly around the clubhouse Sunday morning. But around the fourth or fifth inning, he approached Kelly and said he was good to go, if needed.
Reaching that point was a chore. Lowe said he got about an hour of treatment Saturday night, wearing a pair of compression boots. He used them "three or four times" before Sunday’s game, too. Prior to the team taking ground balls, Lowe did some dynamic movements and said he felt good enough to go.
“With the imaging that we got [Saturday], it was one of those things where if I felt like if I could manage the pain and do things, it would be fine,” he said.
Monday's off day comes at a good time for Lowe, who joked that “hopefully my kids take it easy on me.” Lowe also wants the team to use the day to reset and come back ready for the Dodgers.
“Forget about baseball for a day. Get away,” Lowe said. “With 162 [games] in 180 [days], you've got those few off days that are far and few between. When you get them, it's a good time to decompress. Get yourself away, go take your wife to dinner, take the kids to the park or something. Do whatever you can, do whatever you enjoy. Get away from baseball for a day and show up the next day 100% and ready to work and flush a bad series."
Paul Skenes will start the first game of the series Tuesday, followed by Jared Jones opposite Shohei Ohtani in the middle game. Mitch Keller will start the series finale Thursday.
Jason Mackey: Jason.Mackey@pirates.com and @JMackey_PGH on X.