One broken bat single for a walk-off win and a couple of home runs isn’t enough to cure all that’s ailing B.J. Upton, but he’s started a trend this weekend and the entire Braves team is feeding off of it.
Upton hit a game-tying two-run home run Tuesday night against the Pirates, setting up his teammates for some late-game heroics this time. Andrelton Simmons came through with a double to right center in the 10th inning for a 5-4 win and the first walk-off hit of his career.
“And my life actually,” a smiling Simmons said afterward. “I hit a couple go-aheads but never to end a game. That’s pretty cool. Nice feeling. It was weird, seeing everybody run, chasing me down. It was kind of an awkward feeling. I didn’t know what to do.”
Jason Heyward gave him an idea, picking Simmons up and carrying him off the infield. It was a full-out celebration for a team effort that saw the Braves bullpen cover four scoreless innings and Heyward, Upton and Dan Uggla continue their resurgence at the plate.
Heyward and Uggla each had two hits, giving them simultaneous multi-hit games for the first time this season. And Simmons went 3-for-5 while extending his hitting streak to a career-high 10 games.
“It’s nice to see everybody contributing,” Simmons said. “It’s going to show how dangerous this lineup can really be.”
Heyward put up his second straight two-hit game, going 2-for-4 with a double, a run scored and his first ever sacrifice bunt. Uggla went 2-for-3 with two walks and two runs in his first multi-hit game since May 24.
Uggla drew one of those walks to leadoff the 10th inning. He moved into scoring position when reliever Mark Melancon hit Reed Johnson, then trotted home from second on Simmons’ double as the Pirates outfielders hardly moved to field the ball.
The Braves have won four in a row to start June, including twice in extra innings. Upton entered the month, hitting .145 with three RBIs in his previous 27 games. He’s 4-for-16 (.250) with four RBIs in June, three via home run and one on the walk-off Saturday night against the Nationals.
“It’s still got to get better though,” Upton said. “I’ve got to cut down on strikeouts and some more fine-tuning, but one (hit) is better than none and I’m just happy it was a big one.”
The Braves had something cooking in the eighth with back-to-back walks and Evan Gattis looming on the bench. But the Pirates knew a little something about that, having given up the first pinch hit home run of Gattis’ three this season. So they intentionally walked him after a wild pitch left first base open and got out of the inning on a Simmons groundout.
But Simmons said he came back in the 10th with a better approach.
“I was trying too hard the first time I got a chance right there,” Simmons said. “And the following at-bat, the last at-bat, I was just trying to make sure I made good contact, made the adjustment to go the other way.”
Freddie Freeman kept up his good work at the plate, driving in two runs on an opposite-field double in the third inning to pull the Braves within a run of the Pirates, 3-2. He has 17 RBIs in his past 16 games, while going 23-for-67 (.343), with three doubles, one triple and four home runs.
As good as Mike Minor has been this year, the de facto ace of the Braves rotation was a little too good at times Tuesday. He gave up four over six innings – all on two-strike pitches.
Gaby Sanchez and Minor’s former Vanderbilt teammate Pedro Alvarez each hit solo home runs on two-strike pitches. And Andrew McCutchen supplied two unearned runs on a two-out, two-strike double after Uggla opened the third inning with an error.
Minor hadn’t given up a home run since May 13 in Arizona three starts earlier. Sanchez broke up a stretch of 33 innings pitched without a homer run.
“I was trying to pound the strike zone and it doesn’t always work out,” said Minor, whose ERA is still only 2.52. “I felt like I did a really good job tonight with attacking hitters and getting strike one, strike two and then I would make a bad pitch when I had them in my kind of count.”
