Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Bae Ji-hwan used his quick feet to produce a double, extending his hitting streak to three games.
Bae Ji-hwan went 1-for-4 with a walk and a run batted in as the starting center fielder and leadoff hitter for the Pittsburgh Pirates against the Atlanta Braves on Monday (Sept. 9) at Truist Park in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. His batting average remained at .241 (66-for-274) for the season.
After going hitless in a five-game stretch from the Chicago Cubs on March 28 to the St. Louis Cardinals on March 3, Bae went hitless against the Milwaukee Brewers on March 5, but he got back on base to extend his hitting streak to three games.
The next day, he hit his first career triple against the Brewers. Bae came to the plate with the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh inning with the score tied 3-3, and took a three-pitch slider from Milwaukee’s Elvis Peguero for a long ball to right-center field.
First baseman Jason Delay then stole third and Bae raced home from second. It was the first triple of his big league career. Bae then scored on a Leover Peguero double and, after a strikeout by Keybrian Hayes, on a Miguel Andujar single up the middle that put runners on second and third. It was the game-winning run.
And then there were the long balls. Bae Ji-hwan led off the inning with a four-pitch, 144 km/h sinker from Atlanta starter Bryce Elder that landed just inside the left-field foul line. At 80 meters, it looked a bit short to reach second base, but Bae didn’t hesitate to run toward second base, touching the base for the safe call. However, the hustle play was not enough to bring Bae home.
After getting a nice hit in his first at-bat, Bae made a nice defensive play in the bottom of the first inning. After Atlanta’s leadoff man Ronald Acuña Jr. reached on an error by the shortstop, Aji Albies walked, and Matt Olson singled to right to put runners on first and second, Bae made a spectacular leaping catch of Marcell Ozuna’s fastball.
The second inning remained scoreless. Endy Rodriguez grounded out to first, Josh Palacios struck out, and Roberto Peguero grounded out to shortstop to end the inning. Atlanta got leadoff man Travis d’Arnaud to ground out, Michael Harris to fly out to second base, and then Orlando Arcia singled to right, but Nicky Lopez grounded out to shortstop to end the inning without a run.
Bae didn’t get a hit after his first at-bat. Still tied 0-0 in the top of the third, Pittsburgh loaded the bases when Alfonso Rivas led off with a walk and stole second. After Alyssa Williams struck out, Bae stepped up to the plate for the second time with runners on first and second, but was stranded when he hit a grounder to shortstop on the first pitch, allowing Rivas to advance to third.
Atlanta exploded for eight runs in the third through fifth innings to pull away. In the bottom of the third, the A’s loaded the bases with a single up the middle by Aquino, a double to left by Olson, and a single to right-center by Ozuna. Dano doubled to left center to plate two more runs. Harris then flied out to right field, but Rosario advanced to third and scored on Arcia’s single to left.
In the bottom of the fourth, Akunan added a solo homer and Olson drew a walk before scoring on Rosario’s two-run double with runners on first and second. Atlanta added one more run in the bottom of the fifth on an RBI double to left by Arcia, a grounder to first by Lopez and an RBI single to right by Acuna to put the game out of reach for Pittsburgh.
Bae Ji-hwan led off the top of the sixth inning with an 0-8 count, but had to settle for a two-pitch fly ball to left field. After Bae was out, Pittsburgh cut the deficit to two runs, 8-6, after Hayes doubled to left and Zack Swinski followed with a two-run double to right.
But neither team would score again. In the top of the seventh, Palacios and Riobert were retired on back-to-back singles and Rivas grounded into a double play to end the inning. Atlanta couldn’t capitalize, either, as Harris and Arcia struck out and Lopez flied out to left field.
Still 2-8 and down by six runs in the top of the eighth, Williams singled to left-center with one out, and Bae took a three-pitch four-seam fastball from reliever Dylan Lee, but the ball went to the shortstop. With the leadoff man, Williams, out, Bae reached first base. Bae then advanced to second on a single by Brian Reynolds, but was thrown out at home on a fly ball by Hayes to end the inning.
Bae had no further at-bats after that. With a six-run lead, Atlanta brought up Ben Heller in the top of the ninth, and after Swinski fouled out to third, Rodriguez singled to left field. Palacios grounded out to shortstop to end the game in favor of Atlanta.온라인바카
Pittsburgh starter Mitch Keller took the loss, allowing eight runs on 12 hits and four walks in five innings. He was followed by Jose Hernandez with two scoreless innings and Hunter Stratton with one scoreless inning. Atlanta starter Bryce Elder earned the win with seven innings of four-hit ball, one walk and nine strikeouts, while Dylan Lee and Heller each pitched one scoreless inning to close out the game.