Yastrzemski's 9th-Inning Grand Slam Buries Pittsburgh, 10-5

Mike Yastrzemski waited until the ninth inning to end any suspense, launching a 403-foot grand slam to right that turned a one-run Atlanta lead into a 10-5 final. The Braves needed that insurance — Pittsburgh had clawed all the way back to within one before Yastrzemski slammed the door.

Atlanta came out swinging from the jump. Matt Olson opened the scoring with a 404-foot shot to right in the first, and the Braves kept piling on in the third — an Albies double, a Dubón single — to push the lead to 3-0. Pittsburgh answered immediately and emphatically, with Bryan Reynolds and Esmerlyn Valdez hitting back-to-back homers in the same inning to cut it to 3-2. The Pirates looked like they had life.

Then came the moment that effectively decided the game. In the fourth, Jim Jarvis launched a 397-foot two-run shot to right, Yastrzemski scoring ahead of him, and the win probability swung from 39% to 20% for Pittsburgh — a 19-point collapse in a single swing. Atlanta pushed it to 6-2 later that inning on a Baldwin single. But Pittsburgh refused to fold. Jake Mangum — who finished 4-for-5 with a homer and 3 RBI — crushed a 405-foot two-run shot in the fourth to make it 6-4, then doubled home another run in the sixth to pull the Pirates within one at 6-5. The comeback looked real.

It wasn't. Yastrzemski's ninth-inning grand slam — his second multi-RBI contribution of the night after scoring on the Jarvis homer — finished Pittsburgh off and gave him 4 RBI on the evening. On the mound, the story of the night appears to be Pittsburgh's inability to find length: Yohan Ramirez was sharp over two hitless innings, but Mitch Keller allowed 4 hits and 3 earned runs over three frames before Hunter Stratton came on. Bryce Elder wasn't sharp either for Atlanta, giving up 5 hits and 3 earned in four innings, but the Braves' offense made it irrelevant. With the All-Star break arriving next week, Atlanta heads into the pause having handed Pittsburgh a tough loss — one that looked winnable as late as the sixth inning before Yastrzemski reminded everyone why you play all nine.