Braves top Pirates with 10th-inning walk-off single

The way the Pittsburgh Pirates lost in extra innings to the Atlanta Braves Saturday made Paul Skenes’ solid start something of an afterthought.

After a deflating overturned call negated the go-ahead run in the top of the 10th, Atlanta’s Adam Duvall hit a winning RBI single off Kyle Nicolas in the bottom half of the inning, lifting the Braves to a 2-1 victory.

Nicolas (0-2, 4.70) took the loss Saturday at Truist Park, with the Braves winning on the second pitch he threw.

Skenes struggled somewhat with command and allowed a first-inning run for the third straight game but was impressive from there, lasting six innings.

Skenes allowed six hits, walked two and struck out nine, taking a no-decision.

“To not have his best stuff and give up one run to that lineup, I think, tells you how good his stuff is,” manager Derek Shelton said on the SportsNet Pittsburgh postgame show.

Skenes lowered his ERA to 2.06 in the loss.

The Pirates (39-43) tied the score 1-1 in the fifth courtesy of an Edward Olivares sacrifice fly, plating Michael A. Taylor, who led off with a single and advanced to third when Atlanta starter Max Fried walked Andrew McCutchen and Connor Joe.

Fried (2.91 ERA) dueled Skenes through six innings, striking out four with three walks while also taking a no-decision.

Olivares was at the center of the Pirates’ 10th-inning mishap when he tried to slide into home plate following a wild pitch by Daysbel Hernandez.

Olivares originally was called safe, putting the Pirates ahead 2-1, but a Braves challenge prompted a brief review that overturned the call and ended the frame.

“They made a really good play,” Shelton said. “It’s one of those bang-bang ... if he doesn’t run, and we don’t score, then everybody says, ‘Wait, why didn’t he run?’ It was bang-bang, and (Olivares) made an instantaneous read. You have to trust the player there, and it just didn’t go our way.”

Aroldis Chapman delivered a scoreless bottom of the ninth, sending the game into extra innings and striking out a pair to become MLB’s all-time leader in strikeouts by a left-handed reliever (1,197), passing Billy Wagner.

In addition, Bryan Reynolds extended his MLB-leading hitting streak to 25 games with a last-chance, ninth-inning triple.

Reynolds, who reached 24 straight games with a hit Friday via an eighth-inning single, was 0 for 4 with a strikeout before Saturday’s hit.

The Pirates came close to plating a run in the sixth, but Duvall made a leaping catch at the right-field wall to rob Taylor of a two-out RBI hit.

The Pirates had another good opportunity in the eighth when Ke’Bryan Hayes and Nick Gonzales walked.

Pinch-hitter Rowdy Tellez moved them each up a base with a productive groundout, but Yasmani Grandal flew out to the warning track for the frame’s final out.

Jarred Kelenic’s solo shot also marked the second consecutive game in which Skenes has given up a leadoff home run.

Skenes got himself into a bind in the third, allowing a single and back-to-back walks to load the bases with one out.

But Marcell Ozuna, who had a bases-clearing double in Friday’s series opener, hit into a timely 6-4-3 double play to put out the fire.

In the fourth, Skenes escaped runners on first and second with one out by striking out Forrest Wall and getting Duvall to foul out.

Skenes retook the mound in the sixth and finished his final frame in style, striking out the side.

“Had to battle a little bit,” Skenes said. “Just got to keep battling and execute from the first pitch.”

When Skenes departed after six innings and 102 pitches, Carmen Mlodzinski tossed a scoreless seventh, followed by Colin Holderman in the eighth.