Lately, it seems Gregory Polanco can do no wrong.
Even when he strikes out.
In the Pirates’ 8-2 win Thursday, Polanco tripled, homered and saw another run race home when he whiffed and the baseball bounced past Atlanta Braves catcher Tyler Flowers to the PNC Park backstop.
Polanco went 2 for 5 to extend his hitting streak to six games as the Pirates took three of four from the Braves (10-30) to improve to 22-18. He batted .473 (9 for 19) in four starts against the Braves. From the No. 3 spot in the lineup, where he protects Andrew McCutchen, Polanco has hit .326 with nine extra-base hits in 11 starts.
“Mr. Polanco is doing a really good job,” the ever respectful John Jaso said. “It’s been exciting to watch him. … He’s a good baseball player and a good dude.”
Left-hander Jeff Locke rebounded nicely after getting roughed up by the Chicago Cubs last weekend. Locke (2-3) scattered six hits and two runs over seven innings, dropping his ERA 45 points to 5.00. He walked two and struck out six.
“It was a real good step forward for Jeff,” manager Clint Hurdle said.
Jaso and Jordy Mercer collected three hits apiece. Jaso hit one off the Clemente Wall in the second and raced, dreadlocks flying, for his first triple since 2014.
“I wasn’t expecting that,” Jaso said.
The day began with fowl news. Erick Aybar was scratched from the Braves lineup when he got a chicken bone stuck in his throat at lunch and was taken to a nearby hospital. A doctor sedated him and removed the bone. Aybar did not get a chance to snap his 0-for-9 slump.
Braves right-hander Mike Foltynewicz lasted just three innings, haunted by an inability to finish innings. Seven of the baserunners against the Braves starter, plus all five runs off him, came with two outs.
In the first, Foltynewicz hit Jung Ho Kang with a 2-2 pitch to extend the inning. Starling Marte’s bloop single to right scored Jaso and Kang to make it 2-0.
Jaso tripled with two outs in the second and scored on McCutchen’s single. Polanco worked a full count against Foltynewicz and crushed a hanging curveball to the opposite field for a two-run homer. His fifth homer this season gave the Pirates a five-run cushion.
“It stands out at this ballpark when you can take it out there,” Hurdle said. “That’s a big reach — even for right-handed hitters some nights. … He’s got that kind of power.”
Locke often skirted trouble. In the third, with a runner at third base, Locke froze Freddie Freeman with an inside changeup and got an inning-ending called third strike.
“It feels good to get out there and eat up some innings for everybody,” Locke said.
“Getting out of innings like that gives the skipper more confidence to keep sending me out there for another.”
The only one who had Locke’s number was Jeff Francoeur.
The veteran outfielder singled in his first at-bat, doubled in his second — and came around to score the Braves’ first run when Flowers doubled — and homered in his third.
The Pirates added a run in the fifth when Polanco tripled and Kang hit a sacrifice fly to deep left. They pushed the lead to 8-2 in the sixth when Jaso scored Mercer with an RBI single and Chris Stewart scored on Polanco’s strikeout.
Right-hander Wilfredo Boscan, promoted from Class AAA Indianapolis Thursday, made his major league debut when he replaced Locke in the eighth.
Boscan was called up three times last season, but never pitched.
“He made a lot of trips here to make that debut,” Hurdle said.
Boscan threw a 1-2-3 eighth and a scoreless ninth, striking out two, in his debut.
“He made it look rather easy, you know?” Locke said.
“The first thing I told him was, ‘That’s not how mine went.’ ”
Stephen J. Nesbitt: snesbitt@post-gazette.com and Twitter @stephenjnesbitt.
First Published: May 20, 2016, 2:06 a.m.
Updated: May 20, 2016, 4:20 a.m.
