ATLANTA — From the outset, it was evident Monday would be a long night for Pirates right-hander Gerrit Cole. Atlanta Braves leadoff man Ender Inciarte opened the bottom of the first inning with an 11-pitch single, and Brandon Phillips followed with a 10-pitch groundout. Cole eventually escaped with a scoreless first inning but spent 31 pitches on four batters.
“It definitely was a fascinating inning,” Cole said. “I’ve never experienced one of those before.”
In their 5-2 win Monday at soggy SunTrust Park, the Braves hounded Cole. He was charged with five earned runs in 4⅔ innings. It marked his shortest start this season and snapped a stretch of seven consecutive starts in which Cole had pitched at least six innings and allowed two earned runs or fewer. Cole (2-5) allowed 10 hits, issued a walk and struck out two.
“I thought he pitched much better than the line,” manager Clint Hurdle said.
In the series opener, the Braves (19-23) collected 13 hits, including a pair of long home runs by Phillips and Matt Adams, familiar faces from their days in the National League Central division. Inciarte was 5 for 5, singling in each plate appearance.
“On base five times, man,” Hurdle said. “Doesn’t happen very often, not even in Little League.”
Hurdle watched a majority of the game from the visiting manager’s office. He was ejected by home-plate umpire Phil Cuzzi in the fourth inning. After striking out looking in the fourth, David Freese watched a replay in the dugout, chirped Cuzzi and was tossed. Hurdle, irritated by the quick hook, emerged to argue, and, after some animated discussion, he too was tossed.
“I’m not a rookie,” said Freese, who claims to have a good relationship with Cuzzi. “I think I deserve a little warning or something. Bad call. I yelled. I got tossed. I’m glad Clint stood up for the situation. … It was way off. Chipper Jones had a nice tweet about it. That’s how I feel.”
The tweet from Jones, the longtime Braves third baseman, read, “Another umpire with terrible eyesight, but excellent hearing……….Weird!”
Hurdle declined to elaborate on his gripe. Watch the video, he said, and listen closely.
“Draw your own conclusions,” Hurdle said.
The Pirates lost another regular when shortstop Jordy Mercer was struck in the right hand by a hard grounder in the fifth inning. He fielded the ball and turned the double play regardless, but was visited by the team’s athletic trainer. Mercer remained in the game for another inning before exiting. After the game, his right hand and wrist were sore, bruised and wrapped.
“Didn’t feel too good,” Mercer said.
The Pirates (20-25) produced just two runs, one earned, against right-hander Mike Foltynewicz, who allowed eight hits. They left runners in scoring position in the second, third, fourth, sixth and ninth innings, going 2 for 10 with runners in scoring position and stranding nine men on base.
Their first scoring play arrived with two on in the third when Josh Harrison chopped an infield single, and shortstop Dansby Swanson’s throw skipped past Adams. The Pirates’ other run came in the sixth on three consecutive singles with no outs. They deserted runners at the corners when Francisco Cervelli and Mercer struck out and pinch-hitter Jose Osuna struck out.
After Inciarte singled in the third inning, scoring Swanson, he was thrown attempting to advance to second base. It cost Atlanta an additional run. The next batter, Brandon Phillips, banged a solo home run to left-center field. The home run made Phillips the 48th player in major league history with 200 home runs and 200 stolen bases. A single in the fifth upped Phillips’ career numbers against Cole to 11 for 25 (.440) with but one extra-base hit, the homer.
Cole delayed his demise by getting out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the fourth, but heavier blows followed in the fifth. Inciarte and Phillips singled. Harrison couldn’t handle Nick Markakis’ hard smash to third base, and a run scored on his error. With two outs, Adams, traded to Atlanta last week from the St. Louis Cardinals, launched a two-run home run to right.
“A very poor pitch,” Cole said, describing his curveball.
According to the official scorer, all runs were earned because the runner who had reached on error was erased on the double play. Either way, had Harrison committed an error or not, Cole had only two outs in the inning and needed a third. He was unable to acquire it.
“He had to roll his sleeves up the entire time he was out there,” Hurdle said. “We had two different innings where we could have plated more runs. It might have felt like we were behind by more than we were. But we were in the ballgame and had a chance to do something.”
Stephen J. Nesbitt: snesbitt@post-gazette.com and Twitter @stephenjnesbitt.
First Published: May 23, 2017, 2:58 a.m.
