Braves 2, Pirates 0
In a battle between two aces, Jair Jurrjens outdueled Charlie Morton on Tuesday as the Braves blanked the Pirates, 2-0, at PNC Park.
Jurrjens (6-1) bounced back from his first loss of the season by pitching 7 2/3 scoreless innings. The righthander allowed six hits and struck out four and has not allowed more than two runs in any of his eight starts. He lowered his ERA to 1.56.
Jurrjens got relief help from Jonny Venters, who struck out Matt Diaz to end the eighth, and Craig Kimbrel, who pitched the ninth and struck out two to earn his 13th save.
Morton (5-2) allowed two runs, seven hits and three walks in seven innings. He continues to have bad luck against his former team; Morton is 0-2 with a 2.57 ERA against the Braves.
The Braves scored their first run in the second on a sacrifice fly by Brooks Conrad, who was starting in place of the slumping Dan Uggla. They added another run in the third inning on Martin Prado’s 13th double, which drove in Jordan Schafer, who was starting his first game since being recalled from Triple-A Gwinnett.