ATLANTA -- This was the kind of performance the Pirates expected to see from Chris Archer, but not the kind of night they've come to expect from the back end of their bullpen.
After a rocky first month with Pittsburgh, Archer offered a reminder of his ability by holding the Braves to two hits over six innings. But Atlanta stormed back to score four runs in the eighth and beat the Pirates, 5-3, on Saturday night at SunTrust Park. It was Archer's best start for the Bucs by any measure and only the Pirates' second loss of the season when they led after seven innings.
"Finally got some good results. It felt good," Archer said. "It stinks that we lost as a team, but they're in first place in their division for a reason. There's a very small margin for error."
Setup man Keone Kela, who allowed one run and struck out 21 in his first 14 innings for the Pirates, gave up a solo homer to Dansby Swanson to lead off the eighth. Lucas Duda lined a pinch-hit double to right, and pinch-runner Lane Adams scored the tying run on a wild pitch that struck out Ender Inciarte.

But Inciarte reached safely when Kela's curveball took a wild bounce away from catcher Francisco Cervelli then stole second. Manager Clint Hurdle walked to the mound to make sure Kela wanted to face Freddie Freeman, not walk him. Freeman lined a go-ahead RBI double to left and came around to score on Johan Camargo's sacrifice fly to right off right-hander Kyle Crick.
"It's going to happen. [Kela's] a human. It's baseball," Cervelli said. "They've got good hitters. You make mistakes, that's what happens. The guy's been good since he got here. I'm sure he's going to come back ready for tomorrow."
It was a tough loss considering the Pirates' bullpen's track record of success; they had a 2.93 ERA in August, fifth-best in the Majors. But for a team looking toward next year, Archer's step forward was a more significant development than Kela's rare off-night.

Pitching out of the stretch and relying on Cervelli's guidance behind the plate, Archer retired the first nine hitters he faced before Ronald Acuna Jr. drew a leadoff walk in the fourth, then Archer promptly set down Inciarte, Freeman and Markakis in order to strand Acuna.
Archer said he hadn't pitched exclusively from the stretch since he was 10 years old. That was when his father, Ron, first taught him to simplify his delivery. He made the decision after his between-starts bullpen session, then further streamlined his process by throwing whatever pitch Cervelli called.
"I just went back to the basics," Archer said. "It was a lot of fun to just look at the target and throw and not have to think about sequencing. That was all Cervy."

The Braves broke up Archer's no-hit bid in the sixth inning, when Swanson hit a hard grounder that bounced off third baseman Colin Moran's glove and into left field. It was ruled a double, and Swanson came around to score on Acuna's two-out single to right. Archer struck out five hitters, walked one and threw only 86 pitches in his first quality start for Pittsburgh.
"He was amazing today," Cervelli said. "He came to pitch."

Meanwhile, the Pirates took advantage of the Braves' mistakes behind fellow Trade Deadline acquisition Kevin Gausman.
With one out in the fifth, Moran knocked a single down the left-field line. Kevin Newman hit a grounder up the middle that Charlie Culberson tried to flip to Swanson, but the ball sailed into left field as Moran took third and Newman cruised into second. Starling Marte then launched a two-out double off the right-field wall to drive in both runners and give the Bucs a two-run lead.

Gregory Polanco capitalized on a mistake by Gausman in the sixth, blasting a 2-1 fastball 435 feet to center field for his career-high-tying 22nd home run of the season. But the Pirates' lead would not last.
"This is a tough league up here from time to time, and everybody learns it," Hurdle said. "[The Braves are] hunting over there. They have a good team."

SOUND SMART
The Pirates are now 55-2 when leading after seven innings this season. They had also been 54-4 entering Saturday night when carrying a lead after six innings. They fell to 13-50 on the year when scoring three runs or fewer.
HE SAID IT
"The No. 1 thing was trust in Cervelli. I didn't shake him at all. Literally, I did not shake him one time. I was basically like his little toy. … He said, 'Papi, just trust me. Trust me, trust me, trust me.' And it takes time. I looked at his resume, and I was like, 'You know what? He's right.' [Pitching coach Ray Searage] told me to trust him. I literally didn't shake. Even the couple hits that I gave up, the pitches were executed the way that I wanted them to be." -- Archer, on his trust in Cervelli
"It's a process. We've got to be patient. He's coming from another organization. He had a lot of catchers. We've got to take it little by little. It's more about actions than saying, 'Hey! Trust me!' But little by little, we're getting better. That's what we're looking for." -- Cervelli, on developing a relationship with Archer
MITEL REPLAY OF THE DAY
Cervelli thought he tagged out Freeman in the eighth, which would have left the Pirates with a more manageable one-run deficit heading into the ninth. But home-plate umpire Bill Welke ruled the sliding Freeman safe, and a replay review upheld the call on the field.

UP NEXT
Right-hander Nick Kingham will come out of the bullpen to start Sunday's series finale at SunTrust Park in place of Ivan Nova, who is away from the team due to a personal matter. Kingham will start against veteran right-hander Julio Teheran. First pitch is scheduled for 5:05 p.m. ET.