The Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the Atlanta Braves Monday night, 2-1. Starling Marte contributed to both Pirates runs, finishing the night with one RBI and one run scored.
Down 1-0 in the third inning, Startling Marte tripled to leadoff the inning for Pittsburgh and scored one batter later on a Chase d'Arnaud fielders choice. He grabbed the lead for the Pirates in the fifth inning with another lead-off hit, this time a solo home run to put Pittsburgh on top, 2-1.
Pitching rendered the Braves offense useless almost all night. Other than two hits in the third inning that led to their only run, the Braves went without a hit against Pirates starter Jeff Locke and relievers Jeff Karstens, Tony Watson and Jared Hughes. Locke gets the win, his first of the season, bringing his record to 1-3.
For Atlanta, Paul Maholm gets the loss despite a strong start. Maholm allowed only two runs on five hits in seven innings of work, but drops his record to 13-11.
The loss eliminates the Atlanta Braves in the NL East race, clinching the division for the Washington Nationals.