Don Kelly ejected in Pirates' 11-inning loss to Atlanta

Matt Gorski managed to sum things up succinctly when discussing the Pittsburgh Pirates’ Saturday night loss to the Atlanta Braves, a 3-2 defeat in 11 innings at PNC Park.

“For a 3-2, 11-inning game, (I) felt like there was so much that happened,” he said.

Indeed.

Prominent among the list of incidents Gorski alluded to was manager Don Kelly’s sixth-inning ejection for arguing balls and strikes with home plate umpire Clint Vondrak.

Kelly, three days on the job after being elevated from bench coach in the aftermath of Derek Shelton’s firing, had to catch nearly half the game on TV from the Pirates’ clubhouse.

Third base coach Mike Rabelo deputized as manager for the remainder, with the Pirates having yet to hire a replacement bench coach for Kelly.

Bryan Reynolds followed his skipper shortly thereafter as Vondrak ejected him after a called strike three that concluded the bottom of the seventh.

By the time Atlanta scored the winning run in the top of the 11th via a wild pitch by reliever Chase Shugart, the Pirates’ bench was empty because of a plethora of substitutions, position changes, Reynolds’ ejection as well as Oneil Cruz departing the game with lower back tightness.

Per Kelly, Cruz’s status is day-to-day.

“Obviously, I just disagreed with a few of the calls along the way and I’m always going to protect my guys,” Kelly said of his ejection. “That was really the extent of it.”

Per Kelly, Rabelo, who pulled double duty as acting manager along with his duties at third base, was assisted by pitching coach Oscar Marin and hitting coach Matt Hague.

“First time for him doing it, he did pretty well,” Kelly said of Rabelo’s performance. “Especially in a close game.”

Kelly was absent for the decisive play of the game in the 11th, when Atlanta’s Matt Olson scored from third after Shugart sailed a wild pitch past catcher Henry Davis and to the backstop.

Shugart’s pitch was high and inside to batter Eli White and may have grazed his helmet.

But Vondrak issued no such call in the moment and from the clubhouse, Kelly didn’t get the best look at it either.

“It was really close watching the TV,” Kelly said. “It was inconclusive to me watching. Really tough to tell.”

Shugart (1-3, 3.31 ERA) was Saturday’s losing pitcher.

Olson, the Braves’ automatic runner to begin the 11th, was put on third via a groundout by Ozzie Albies.

The Pirates (13-27) squandered a quality start from Andrew Heaney, who rebounded from two straight rough outings to toss six innings, allowing two runs on four hits with three walks and a pair of strikeouts.

Heaney (2-3, 3.15 ERA), who took a no-decision, allowed an RBI double to Michael Harris in the second and a solo homer to Olson in the third, putting the Braves up 2-0.

But from there, he settled down. He threw 82 pitches, 49 for strikes.

“Just a little bit of bad direction early,” Heaney said. “Felt myself closing, pulling myself off. Felt like I got a couple things figured out as the game went on.”

Heaney was on the hill in the sixth when Kelly was tossed.

The 33-year-old lefty had just delivered a called ball two to Olson when Vondrak ejected Kelly, who was expressing his discontentment with the strike zone from the Pirates bench.

While Heaney admitted he had no interest in making his own displeasure about some questionable calls known, Kelly doing so on his behalf was received well.

“I’m not somebody that likes to have those conversations in the game,” Heaney said. “It’s just not really my personality. I want to go out there and pitch and deal with the circumstances as they are, as they’re happening, so I appreciate when I feel like I’m not really in a position to sort of vocalize those things. That somebody can pick up that slack for me, I appreciate it.”

Trailing by two early, the Pirates responded in the third, when Joey Bart singled home Cruz, who got aboard by beating a double-play ball before stealing second.

Bart, whom Davis replaced behind the plate in the ninth, was 4 for 4 with the RBI in the defeat.

In the eighth, Gorski tied the score 2-2 with an infield single to plate Ji Hwan Bae from third.

Bae pinch-ran for Bart after the latter’s fourth hit of the evening, stealing second and heading to third on a Ke’Bryan Hayes groundout.

Unfortunately for the Pirates, Gorski’s clutch hit was the anomaly in a frustrating game full of wasted opportunities.

The Pirates finished Saturday with 14 runners stranded and went 2 of 18 with men in scoring position.

They were unable to capitalize on a leadoff double by Alexander Canario in the seventh, had the bases loaded in the eighth after Gorski’s RBI and came up empty in the ninth after Tommy Pham and Cruz led off with walks.

Then, in the 10th, Davis was gunned down at home plate, trying to score on a Gorski grounder to third base.

One final opportunity to respond in the 11th was also squandered, as the frame’s auto runner, Canario, advanced to third base with one out, courtesy of a Jared Triolo sacrifice bunt.

But Liover Peguero (an 11th-inning substitute) struck out looking and Pham (Reynolds’ replacement to begin the eighth) grounded out to end the game.

“When we’re talking about hitting and everybody wants to be the guy to come through, staying within ourselves and finding a way to put a good swing on it,” Kelly said. “Gorski came up in that situation, putting the ball in play, finding a way to get it done. Need to continue to stay within ourselves and put good swings on good pitches.”

AJ Smith-Shawver started for Atlanta, lasting 5 2/3 innings and taking a no-decision.

Scott Blewett (2-0, 2.79 ERA) pitched the 10th and 11th innings for the Braves and was Saturday’s winning pitcher.

Reynolds was 0 for 4 at the plate and suffered a pair of defensive mishaps on doubles by Marcell Ozuna and Harris in right field early on, although he was not charged for an error in either instance.