Musgrove, Pirates slow Braves

Joe Musgrove pitched into the ninth inning, and Elias Diaz and Colin Moran homered Wednesday as the Pittsburgh Pirates topped the visiting Atlanta Braves 7-4 to end a three-game losing streak. Gregory Polanco was 3-for-4 with an RBI double and two steals, and Starling Marte was 3-for-3 for the Pirates.

Ronald Acuna Jr. and Dansby Swanson homered for the Braves, who had won three straight. Musgrove (4-6), who had lost two consecutive starts and five of seven, allowed three runs and five hits in eight-plus innings. He struck out six, and he retired 14 batters in a row before issuing his lone walk with one out in the eighth.

Musgrove also was 2-for-4 with a run to aid a Pittsburgh offense that racked up 14 hits. Felipe Vazquez gave up a run but got the final three outs after Musgrove served up the home runs to Acuna and Swanson to open the ninth.

Atlanta starter Kevin Gausman (2-5) got roughed up for seven runs and 12 hits in five innings, with three strikeouts and no walks. The Braves took a 1-0 lead in the second inning. Josh Donaldson led off with a double, moved to third on Nick Markakis' flyout and scored on Austin Riley's single.

In the bottom of the second, Polanco hit a one-out single and stole second ahead of Diaz's first homer of the year, a shot to left that gave the Pirates a 2-1 lead. Four straight singles by Musgrove, Kevin Newman, Bryan Reynolds and Marte produced two more runs, and Josh Bell's RBI double made it 5-1.

Pittsburgh added another in the third when Moran and Polanco opened with back-to-back doubles. Moran led off the fifth with his seventh homer, to center, to increase the lead to 7-1.

After the home runs knocked out Musgrove in the ninth, Vazquez gave up a walk to Freddie Freeman and a one-out RBI double to Markakis to cut the margin to 7-4. The start of the game was delayed for 2 hours, 4 minutes due to rain.

--Field Level Media