When the Pirates and Braves met at Truist Park in late May, it produced a series that manager Derek Shelton’s team couldn’t wait to shake. Fifteen home runs allowed. A total of 37 runs scored. It felt like the Pirates could have had Nolan Ryan or Randy Johnson in their respective primes, and the ball still wouldn’t have stayed in the yard.
What happened Monday likely didn’t erase all of those bad memories, but the Pirates’ 11-1 victory at PNC Park had to give them at least some measure of satisfaction, especially with how their way-too-dormant broke out against Max Fried and the rest of Atlanta’s pitching staff.
Ben Gamel was the biggest offensive force, going 3 for 6 with two home runs, a double and a career-high six RBIs. But much like Atlanta did to the Pirates roughly six weeks ago, he was hardly alone.
Ke’Bryan Hayes, who came into this one slashing .204/.298/.224 over his past 15 games, got a much-needed boost of confidence via his two-run homer in the eighth, which was also a terrific example of two-strike hitting. Hayes stuck with an outside fastball and drove it the other way.
Even John Nogowski, playing his first game as a Pirate, got his hands dirty, collecting a pair of hits, driving in a run and scoring three times.
The emergence of Gamel and Nogowski could actually be the boost this Pirates offense needs. While Adam Frazier, Hayes (preceding his current funk) and Bryan Reynolds have been terrific at the top, things have petered out quickly. If Gamel and Nogowski are able to do something, anything, who knows. It’s better than the nothing they have been getting.
These guys have similar stories, too. Gamel is the son of a construction worker, a blue-collar player. Nogowski is also the lunch-pail type and spent time in independent ball before the Cardinals signed him in 2017. Neither plays like they’re owed a thing.
On pretty much any other night, Nogowski might been the quirky, cool story, but against the Braves, it didn’t come close to the second multi-homer game of Gamel’s career and his first since May 26, 2019 against the Phillies.
That second home run, a three-run shot in the seventh, served as the dagger. Josh Tomlin threw Gamel a first-pitch cutter, left in smack in the middle of the plate, and Gamel took a sledgehammer to it, drilling the ball 412 feet off the batter’s eye in center field.
Over the past five games, Gamel — who has hit safely in all five — is now 8 for 19 (.421) with a double, four home runs and eight RBIs. Claimed off waivers from Cleveland on May 9, Gamel is now hitting .305 in his past 27 starts with the Pirates.
After his second homer sailed over the fence, Gamel was sporadically, sarcastically and hilariously showered with chants of “MVP! MVP!”
With Colin Moran on the 10-day injured list because of a left wrist bone fracture — and unable to do much of anything during pregame work — “The Big Nogowski,” as he’s known, could stand to inherit a bunch of playing time here, the same as Gamel has done in the outfield.
You might say that Nogowski abides.
“Any time you have eyes on you for the first time, you want to show them what you can do right off the bat,” Nogowski said. “There’s plenty of pressure playing this game, whether it's your first impression or you've been here for four or five years. The big thing for me is just to try to take every at-bat separately and try to be productive. If I'm productive, they're gonna find a spot for me, whether that's going to the outfield or first base.”
The Pirates’ big inning started with a bouncing, infield single by Reynolds and Jacob Stallings’ double. Nogowski scored Reynolds when he pulled a 1-0 fastball through the left side of the infield.
That helped Pittsburgh extend its lead to 3-1 before Gamel yanked a hanging slider into the right-field corner for a double to score Stallings. Nogowski touched home on Phillip Evans’ ground out to make it 5-1, and Gamel scampered home on a wild pitch to create a 6-1 advantage.
That was more than enough for Chase De Jong and the bullpen. De Jong battled through a rough first inning, throwing 36 pitches and giving up a run, but stuck around to go five and allow just one earned run, striking out four.
The other offensive burst from the Pirates came in the fourth, when Nogowski walked and jogged home thanks to Gamel’s first homer of the game, the left-handed hitter blasting an elevated fastball out to center.
Right fielder Ronald Acuna Jr. led off the first with a single and scored on an error charged to Evans in right field. Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman drilled a double on an elevated four-seamer from De Jong. Evans twice failed to successfully pick up the ball off the grass.
