With less than two months remaining in this season, the Pirates can’t afford to have any more road trips prove to be as frustrating as the one that concluded on Thursday night, when Ryan Vogelsong’s impressive comeback was tarnished by an error that allowed the Braves to score two seventh-inning runs and claim a 5-2 victory.
Jeff Francoeur’s two-out RBI single off Felipe Rivero capped the decisive two-run seventh for the Braves, who have won six of their past nine games. Francoeur would not have been given this opportunity to deliver this game-winner had third baseman Jung Ho Kang not dropped a throw from Rivero after Adonis Garcia was seemingly hung out to dry between second and third base. Garcia scored on the play and made a winner of Tyrell Jenkins, who limited the Pirates to one run despite issuing four walks over six innings.
Making his first start since suffering multiple facial fractures when he was hit by a pitch on May 23, Vogelsong limited the Braves to one run over six innings. The veteran hurler was perfect in five of his six innings and surrendered each of the three hits charged to him during the third inning, which began with Ender Inciarte extending his hitting streak to 15 games with a leadoff single. The Pirates scored two runs or fewer three times while going 1-5 during this six-game road trip that began in Milwaukee.
From “Oh, no” to “Go, go go!”: With runners at first and second and one out in the seventh inning, Garcia took off for third base as Rivero came set from the stretch. The left-handed reliever’s throw easily beat Garcia, but Kang didn’t secure the shoulder-high throw that bounced off his glove and deflected toward left field, allowing Garcia to race home in uncontested fashion.
Although he received a no-decision on Thursday, Vogelsong shined in his first game back from the 60-day disabled list. The right-hander pitched two perfect innings to open the contest before running into trouble in the third. But after giving up Erick Aybar’s infield RBI single, he struck out Freddie Freeman and got Matt Kemp to fly out to center to escape a bases-loaded jam. The two outs represented the first of 11 straight batters the 39-year-old retired before exiting the game after six impressive innings.
The Braves travel to St. Louis for a weekend series with the Cardinals beginning Friday night. Thunder Radio will bring you all 3 games in the series beginning on Friday night as we join the Atlanta Braves Radio Network at 6 PM.
