PITTSBURGH -- Getting through the batting order more than twice has been a challenge for Carmen Mlodzinski in his first season as a starting pitcher.
However, Mlodzinski pitched a career-high 5 2/3 innings and did not allow a run on Sunday afternoon at PNC Park. He did not factor in the decision, though, as the Pirates blew a 3-0 lead before beating the Braves, 4-3, to take two of three in the series under new manager Don Kelly. They had lost their past seven games before Derek Shelton was dismissed on Thursday.
Joey Bart grounded into a fielder's choice with the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the ninth, scoring Adam Frazier to give Pittsburgh the walk-off win.
Mlodzinski (1-3) allowed four hits, struck out two and walked one. He pitched into the sixth inning for the first time in eight starts this season.
The key for Mlodzinski was pitching to his strengths, using his fastball more and giving credit to the game calling by Bart, the catcher. Mlodzinski had been a relief pitcher in his first two seasons before being converted to a starter this year.
“I think I've fallen into a pattern a little bit this year of pitching to weaknesses and kind of losing what I do as a pitcher,” Mlodzinski said. “[Bart] just kind of reaffirmed that, ‘You know, your strengths are good. You've been in the big leagues a few years now, and don't waver away from what got you here and what's kept you here.’”
Mlodzinski left the game with a 3-0 lead, but the Braves tied it on Sean Murphy’s pinch-hit three-run double off Joey Wentz with two outs in the eighth inning.
Atlanta got all of its hits off Mlodzinski the first two times through the order. He pitched to four batters for the third time, retiring three of them and walking the other before being relieved by Ryan Borucki.
Mlodzinski remained winless in his past six starts since his victory on April 7 against the Cardinals. However, he was pleased with his aggressiveness.
“The mentality that I have is going to be consistent going into each outing,” Mlodzinski said. “I think the adjustment -- and leaning onto what my identity is -- is making sure I'm getting my fastball up, driving that through the zone and making sure that the strike percentage for the fastballs that I'm throwing is up.
“It hadn't been a great number with the strike percentage on my fastballs this season. I think that's been hurting me quite a bit. It's made my offspeed stuff not quite as sharp. But today, I thought I did a better part of driving it to the zone that I wanted to get it to."
The Pirates broke a scoreless tie by scoring three runs in the fifth inning off reigning National League Cy Young winner Chris Sale. The first run scored on Drake Baldwin’s passed ball, then Andrew McCutchen had a sacrifice fly and Bart hit an RBI single.
Then they rallied for the winning run off Braves closer Raisel Iglesias in the ninth inning. Frazier and Ke’Bryan Hayes each singled to put runners on first and third with no outs. Hayes advanced to second on Bryan Reynolds’ slow roller to second base. McCutchen was intentionally walked, and Bart followed by hitting a hard ground ball off Nick Allen’s glove for his second career walk-off RBI.
Dennis Santana (1-1) pitched a scoreless ninth for the win, but Mlodzinski was the star on the mound for the Pirates.
“Unbelievable, can’t say enough about what he did,” Kelly said. “Competed and emptied the tank there. Did a great job.
“He looked efficient. He was commanding everything and getting ahead. Really just ... stayed in the zone all the way through, competing like that.”