Bubba Chandler always dreamed of pitching at Turner Field, before the ballpark closed in 2016. So Truist Park served as a perfect consolation prize for the Pittsburgh Pirates rookie right-hander from Bogart, Ga.

Chandler drew a large contingent of family and friends for his first start in Atlanta and gave them a performance to remember by recording six strikeouts without a walk while touching triple digits a handful of times.

Where Chandler allowed one run on four hits in 5 2/3 innings, the Pirates used a two-run sixth to pull away for a 3-1 win over the Atlanta Braves on Saturday night at Truist Park.

Pirates manager Don Kelly called Chandler’s outing “really special.”

“He threw the ball extremely well and went right after them,” Kelly said on the SportsNet Pittsburgh postgame show, “and just really cool for him to be at home in Georgia and put on a show like he did.”

It was the fifth win in six games for the Pirates (71-90), who face Charlie Morton in the season finale Sunday. After giving up nine runs on nine hits and three walks in his first MLB start, Chandler (4-1) had 19 strikeouts without allowing a walk while giving up two earned runs on seven hits in his final three starts of the season.

“It was really fun,” Chandler said. “The first couple innings, I was little too amped. But I settled in and threw the ball.”

Both Braves starter Spencer Strider (7-14) and Chandler retired the side on seven pitches in the first inning, but Drake Baldwin led off the bottom of the second with a line drive that ricocheted off the left-field corner wall for a triple.

Chandler recovered to get the next two batters out, but Marcell Ozuna lined a single at a 105.7 mph exit velocity to right to drive in Baldwin and give the Braves a 1-0 lead.

Pirates catcher Henry Davis made a mound visit that calmed Chandler’s nerves. He recovered from a 2-0 count to record his first strikeout, getting Nacho Alvarez Jr. to chase an elevated fastball.

“The mound visit definitely helped,” Chandler said. “I think the nerves in the third inning kind of went away, and it was more executing what I’ve got to do and keep us in the game.”

In an on-field postgame interview on SportsNet Pittsburgh, Davis credited Chandler with controlling his emotions.

“Super mature of him to settle down as we got through the outing and lock it in,” Davis said. “It was great.”

Davis helped Chandler’s cause with his bat when he led off the third with his seventh home run, driving a hanging curveball 425 feet to left field to tie the score 1-1. It was Davis’ first homer since Aug. 7.

“He hit that ball well,” Chandler said. “Glad to see it. He works so hard behind the plate for all our guys. Catching is so hard. When you put us on the board early with a home run as a catcher, it’s special — especially from that guy.”

Chandler struck out the side in the third, topping triple digits in getting Brett Wisely and Matt Olson swinging. Chandler threw his four-seam fastball for 48 of his 86 pitches. Of his 13 whiffs, 10 came on the heater; of his 13 called strikes, six came by way of the four-seamer.

“Once he started throwing, he put the blinders on and got it done,” Davis said. “Probably just seeing that nobody can hit his fastball, so just keep throwing it.”

Baldwin hit a one-out double to right in the fourth and advanced to third on an infield single by Michael Harris II, but Chandler got Ozuna to ground out to avoid any damage.

Strider stranded a pair of runners in the fifth. After giving up a leadoff single to Jack Suwinski, who stole second base, and walking Rafael Flores, Strider got Davis looking at a called third strike, Oneil Cruz to pop up to third in foul territory and Jared Triolo swinging.

Strider’s fortunes changed in the sixth, starting with a Spencer Horwitz single. Horwitz hit a line drive that saw Wisely make a leaping snag, only for his glove to come off. Nick Gonzales doubled to the right-center gap to score Horwitz for the go-ahead run. After Joey Bart drew a full-count walk, Suwinski singled off the glove of shortstop Ha-Seong Kim to drive in Gonzales for a 3-1 Pirates lead.

Things got worse for the Braves in the bottom of the inning.

When Olson hit a pop up in foul territory, he was called for batter interference after Davis bumped into him while trying to catch the ball. Braves manager Brian Snitker was ejected for arguing the call. Olson was later ejected for continuing to argue the call after the inning ended.

“It was just way up there,” Davis said. “I bumped into Olson. The rule says he’s out, I guess.”

Chandler got Ronald Acuna Jr. swinging at a 100.5 mph fastball for a strikeout to end his outing. He was replaced with two outs by Chase Shugart, who got Baldwin looking at a sweeper for the final out.

The Pirates went 1 for 10 with runners in scoring position, stranding 10, but the bullpen kept the Braves from scoring again. Shugart had two strikeouts in 1 1/3 scoreless innings, Justin Lawrence added two more in the eighth and Dennis Santana recorded a pair in a scoreless ninth to earn his 16th save. That led to an emotional moment for Chandler, who had a chance to hug his parents after the game.

“It was cool. My dad had some tears in his eyes, so that was really awesome,” Chandler said. “We’ve talked about this day for many years. It’s finally happened, pitching in Atlanta, which is awesome.”

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