JT had the quality and the K's, but not the run support

ATLANTA -- JT Brubaker tossed his second quality start of the season on Thursday at Truist Park, but it wasn't enough to earn him his first win of 2022.

The 28-year-old righty went seven innings, giving up three runs on six hits and two walks while striking out seven in the Pirates' 3-1 loss to the Braves. The outing was his longest of the season and only the second time in his Major League career that he reached seven innings.

"I think [Brubaker] continues to throw the ball well," manager Derek Shelton said. "Like we talked about pregame, the last couple we just hadn't played well defensively behind him. Today we played well defensively. [They] just had a couple baserunners that scored [after a] walk or the hit-by-pitch. This wasn't on Bru. This was the fact that we just didn't score."

Brubaker wishes he could take back the freebies. A walk in the second inning led to the game's first run, and hitting Ronald Acuña Jr. to lead off the third initiated the Braves' two-run frame.

“I felt like I threw the ball well; I felt good,” Brubaker said. “The one thing that sticks out was a hit-by-pitch and a four-pitch walk; can't defend walks. They put the ball in play and ended up getting those two guys across on free passes.”

The third-year starter is now 0-6 through 12 starts (58 2/3 innings) with a 4.60 ERA. He has just one victory (Aug. 24, 2021) over his last 26 starts dating back to June 8, 2021.

Jack Suwinski provided the lone run of support for Brubaker, hitting a 370-foot homer in the fourth inning. The blast was his eighth of the season, which is tops among National League rookies and ties him with Houston's Jeremy Peña for the MLB lead. The right fielder finished the game 1-for-4; the one knock extended his hitting streak to eight games, the longest of any Pirate this season.

"I just want to be the best player I can be for this team," Suwinski said. "I think a lot of that comes from motivation, seeing these other guys, some of the older guys, talking [with] them, learning from them. I want to be someone who comes in that they can rely on, depend on and lean on, the same way that us young guys can turn to them."

But the Pirates are hopeful that another fresh face can provide a spark. After going hitless in his first two games in the bigs, Travis Swaggerty recorded his first MLB hit with an infield single in the fifth off Braves ace Max Fried. The 24-year-old underwent surgery on his right shoulder in 2021 and landed on the injured list earlier this year with a concussion prior to his callup on June 5.

"I don’t think it’s really set in yet," Swaggerty said. "It wasn’t exactly the 450-foot homer that I had been picturing my entire life, but I will take it, especially off a guy like Max Fried. It’s incredible. Hopefully the first of many."

The loss snapped Pittsburgh's three-game road win streak after they became the first team to sweep the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium since the Cardinals in August 2018. Now the Pirates have three more games in Atlanta, where they'll try to snap the Braves' current eight-game win streak.

"That's a good club," Shelton said. "That's a club that won a World Series last year with a really deep lineup and a really good pitcher on the mound."