Pirates win 1st game under new skipper Don Kelly, topping Braves to snap 7-game skid

Friday’s win notwithstanding, the Pittsburgh Pirates still find themselves in a massive early-season hole.

Hope remains slim that the Pirates (13-26) are capable of digging themselves out and salvaging something from the 2025 campaign.

However, for a club one day removed from firing its manager, starting things off with a 3-2 home victory over the Atlanta Braves in new skipper Don Kelly’s inaugural game at the helm was special.

“It’s safe to say everyone was kind of playing for him tonight,” said Bailey Falter, who started at PNC Park in front of 19,357 fans, picking up the win.

Falter (2-3 4.36 ERA) delivered his second consecutive quality start, pitching six scoreless innings while allowing two hits and two walks with three strikeouts.

Alexander Canario and Jared Triolo hit solo home runs off Braves starter Bryce Elder (2-2, 4.97 ERA), and a sixth-inning RBI double by Andrew McCutchen provided the winning run.

Dennis Santana survived a shaky ninth inning, allowing two runs, to pick up his fourth save of the season.

Kelly, whom the Pirates, in celebratory fashion, drenched in “probably everything you can possibly imagine,” postgame per Falter, said he couldn’t have drawn up a better first game in the manager’s seat.

“Really good, especially the way the guys competed tonight, grinded it out,” Kelly said of the win. “Came through when they needed to. Felt the energy was good, and the way they played was really impressive.”

The Pirates took a 1-0 lead in the third inning, as Canario lifted an opposite-field solo homer, his second of the season, over the Clemente Wall.

Canario was a late insertion into the Pirates’ lineup, with Tommy Pham feeling under the weather pregame, per Kelly.

Pham later replaced Canario in the ninth, playing an inning in left field.

Falter, who took the hill following a sharp, seven-inning outing against the Padres his last time out, prevented the Braves from dealing any early damage.

Atlanta (18-20) stranded a pair in the first inning, then Falter walked Sean Murphy on four pitches to begin the second.

But from there, Falter settled down, cruising through five innings without issue.

“I think just command of all the pitches,” said Falter, who threw 56 of his 89 pitches for strikes. “The last two starts, the heater has been in a really good spot. I feel like we’ve been executing it really well. … As soon as we develop the heater, everything else plays so well off it.”

With one out in the sixth, Triolo launched a solo home run into the left-field stands, handing the Pirates a 2-0 advantage.

Then, after Bryan Reynolds singled, Andrew McCutchen plated him with a double to center field that missed being a two-run homer by inches, as it bounced off the top of the outfield wall back onto the field, handing the Pirates a 3-0 lead into the seventh.

Elder’s evening was over after the two-run sixth. He allowed three runs on five hits but walked none and struck out eight.

Chase Shugart succeeded Falter on the mound in the seventh and recorded two outs before Kelly called on Caleb Ferguson, who completed the frame with a strikeout of Alex Verdugo.

In the eighth, Kelly turned to David Bednar to preserve the lead.

Bednar allowed two singles but got all three outs in the frame via strikeout, averting any damage.

In the ninth, Santana was entrusted to close the door.

Eli White led off with a triple, scoring on a Michael Harris sacrifice fly to make it 3-1.

Santana then gave up a single to Verdugo, who later scored on a Drake Baldwin RBI single, trimming the Pirates’ lead to 3-2.

From there, Santana finally put things away, getting Ozzie Albies to line out.

“That’s baseball. That’s fun,” Kelly said of the close call at the end of the game. “Everybody is on the edge of their seat. … Obviously, don’t want to make it that close but (Santana) did a great job and fans were on their feet. It was exciting.”