PITTSBURGH — It’s impossible to deny that JT Brubaker, for much of this season, has looked like an improved pitcher from 2021, when he tossed 124⅓ innings with a 5.36 ERA.
In a 6-1 loss to the Atlanta Braves at PNC Park on Tuesday, Brubaker surpassed his 2021 innings-mark, and for four innings, he was on track to do it in style. Against a Braves lineup that’s near the top in MLB in multiple offensive categories, Brubaker was dealing. He allowed just one hit through four frames, erased that with a double-play ball, and struck out six Atlanta hitters along the way.
Then, the Braves ambushed him in the fifth. On the first pitch Brubaker threw to Travis d’Arnaud, the lead-off hitter in that inning, d’Arnaud swung, reaching down to golf a slider way out over the left-field wall. If that had been all for the rally, no worries. It only tied the game at the time, and, as mentioned, Brubaker had been cooking with gas.
The pressure didn’t relent, though. Brubaker allowed six straight hits, beginning with d’Arnaud’s homer.
William Contreras ripped a single to right-center, Michael Harris II crushed a double off the wall in left-center, then Vaughn Grissom, Robbie Grossman and Ronald Acuna Jr., ripped singles. Grossman and Acuna’s efforts were on the first pitch of their respective at-bats as well.
A fielder’s choice and a sacrifice fly added to the damage, and when all was said and done, Brubaker was saddled with a lopsided, five-run inning, all but erasing the evidence of Brubaker’s progress he’d shown earlier in the game.
The 28-year-old came back out for the sixth and pitched a simple 1-2-3 frame, then began the seventh, too. He gave up another pair of singles before being pulled, though, and another single from Austin Riley tagged Brubaker with a sixth earned run on the evening.
It doesn’t erase the progress Brubaker has made this season. His ERA is down nearly a full run this season. His FIP is down even more than that. He’s allowed more walks and hits on average, but his home run rate has plummeted.
What’s mostly unfortunate for Brubaker is that the Pirates basically needed him to be perfect, with the Braves starting left-handed Cy Young candidate Max Fried. The Pirates, who, to put it mildly, have struggled offensively from time to time this season, were completely outclassed by Fried.
He made one real mistake all evening and paid for it, with Pirates first baseman Michael Chavis lifting a second-inning homer just over the wall down the left-field line. Fried proceeded to face the minimum over the next four innings, and he only ran into a semblance of trouble late.
That came in the eighth, when infielder Rodolfo Castro walked on four pitches and catcher Jason Delay looped a two-out single just inside the right-field line. Fried got out of that with a Kevin Newman groundout to end the frame.
In eight innings, the left-hander struck out seven, and allowed just four baserunners on three hits and a walk. He did it all on just 95 pitches, setting a near-unbeatable tone. Brubaker looked ready to match that for a while, but when he fell short, he fell way short.
With that, the Pirates lost their fourth straight and their 10th in the past 12 games, dropping to 47-76 in what has turned out to be another brutally long season.
