Mitch Keller continued his spectacular month of May, tossing 6 2/3 innings of one-run ball, allowing six hits and striking out four. While he qualified for a win and extended his streak to 42 straight starts of at least five innings before the in-game rain delay began, he returned after the 30-minute hiatus to toss a clean sixth and get the first two outs of the seventh.
Colin Holderman was brought in to retire Ronald Acuña Jr., who represented the tying run, to finish the seventh before tossing a scoreless eighth. David Bednar picked up his 11th save.
The offense centered around Ji Hwan Bae and Nick Gonzales. Bae drove home Jared Triolo with a third-inning bloop single, and he tacked on an insurance run in the seventh on a Bryan Reynolds base hit. Gonzales doubled and took third on an error by Acuña in right field in the fourth, scoring Oneil Cruz, and he was brought home on an Edward Olivares sacrifice fly on the next pitch.
The Pirates are now 25-28 and will go for a sweep of the Braves on Sunday afternoon.
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