Veteran Anderson confident despite blowout

For the first time as a Pirate, Tyler Anderson stumbled, and he stumbled hard. But he feels like he’s still in a good spot to bounce back.

The lefty gave up nine runs in five innings against the Braves on Friday night, setting the tone in a 20-1 loss at Truist Park. However, he believes he was able to execute pitches, and the homer-happy Braves made some outstanding swings for big damage.

The first of those swings came from Ronald Acuña Jr. A double, a walk and an infield single to begin the second inning sent Acuña to the plate with the bases loaded. Anderson started with a pitch away, two pitches tight and inside, two pitches high and then, with a full count, threw a changeup away and off the plate.

Somehow, Acuña reached down in a split second and turned on it for a Statcast-projected 355-foot grand slam that just cleared the right-field wall.

“I think everybody in the stadium who knows about baseball, and everybody on our team, was kind of struck that that ball leaves [the park],” Anderson said.

The second homer Anderson allowed came on a pitch well out of the zone, but it was maybe a bit less surprising.

In the fifth inning, Anderson walked Marcell Ozuna -- who would hit a home run off Kyle Keller the next inning -- to bring up Ozzie Albies. Albies’ hitting statistics are much worse higher in the strike zone than they are lower. The Pirates’ lefty worked him high three times, then fired a changeup below the zone looking to change Albies’ eye level.

Instead, Albies reached down and golfed it for a two-run shot before Austin Riley went back to back on a high first-pitch cutter that he sent towering down the left-field line.

“It’s weird to say, but I felt like the pitches that they hit were executed,” Anderson said. “If you look at the homers that they hit and the pitches that they hit, they were all pretty good pitches.”

By the end of the nine-run outing, Anderson’s ERA had ballooned from 3.50 to 4.73. The Pirates would go on to allow seven home runs in total -- three off Anderson, one off Keller, two off Chasen Shreve and two off utility man Wilmer Difo, who made his debut on the mound. Difo allowed a second grand slam to the Braves, marking the first time in MLB history a team has hit seven or more homers and two or more grand slams in the same game.

The seven home runs allowed was also the second most the Pirates have given up in a single game in franchise history, trailing only the eight they gave up on Aug. 30, 1953, in the first game of a doubleheader against the Braves -- when they were in Milwaukee. “With the guys they have at the top of their lineup and the way they swing the bat, that’s why they’re leading the league in homers,” manager Derek Shelton said of Atlanta’s offense. “They get after it. They’re aggressive. They capitalize on mistakes, and tonight we just made too many mistakes.”

The bigger question for the Pirates is how Anderson will rebound from this. As a veteran presence in a young pitching group, he’s had experiences dealing with these kinds of setbacks. And since he felt he was still executing, he feels like he has nothing to hang his head about beyond the loss.

“Sometimes, it comes in bunches. Sometimes, it doesn’t,” Anderson said of the runs against him. “Sometimes, you’ll go out and shove and not give up a homer or go for four or five, throw the exact same game.

“We’ll see. We’ll just continue to go at it, make good pitches and see where it goes.”