'A big kick in the butt:' Rookies' growing pains cost Pirates

The Pirates would initially win an appeal at third that Harris left early, but a Braves challenge would overturn that. 

"Initially, when I threw it, I thought we had a chance to get the out," Triolo said. "He ended up beating it. I saw them appeal it down to third and I got a little excited there, but after they overturned it, it was a big kick in the butt."

It was a tough play for a regular second baseman to try to make, let alone a natural third baseman playing out of position. Normally, that's a play for the outfielder, but Davis didn't call off Triolo.

"If Henry can get there, he’s gotta catch that ball," Derek Shelton said. "He’s moving forward, he’s moving toward the ball. Jared’s running not only back, but he’s running at an angle because of where’s he set up defensively. If Henry can get there, yeah, we’d prefer he catch that ball."

"I haven’t seen it yet," Davis said. "I go over every play once I get home, but if I have the best chance to keep that run from scoring, I have to take it."

Later, Davis would take a called Raisel Iglesias slider for the 27th out, stranding two runners on base.

For the second game in a row, the Pirates took the best team in the National League to the wire, but once again fell short. That comes with the territory with a young team that had four rookies in the starting lineup (Davis, Triolo, Endy Rodríguez and Alika Williams) had four rookies take the mound (Quinn Priester, Colin Selby, Carmen Mldozinski and Jose Hernandez).

Just about every rookie who played had a moment or two of promise. Selby uncorked some serious spin for strikeouts in his debut. Davis doubled. Triolo and Williams came through with RBIs in the fourth inning. But there was also the play in a right, a passed by Rodríguez, Mlodzinski taking the loss and Priester lasting just four innings of four-run ball.

Facing arguably the best offense in the league, Priester could not get out of two out jams, allowing a runner to score with two outs in the second, third, and fourth innings. While Shelton thought his fastball execution was more consistent Wednesday, Priester still allowed nine hits on the night and was pitching out of the stretch virtually the entire evening.

Again, there was some good, some bad. Priester was able to strike out MVP-front runner Ronald Acuña Jr. twice, but when pressed with that big moment with two outs in the fourth, Acuña got him:

It's a learning experience, which is why I asked Priester what he has learned about himself in the majors:

"

"Know I belong here, man," Priester said. "Just being able to execute pitches consistently. That's pretty much the big thing here, being consistent inning to inning. That's what we're working on, too."

That's a good attitude to have, and there's merit for it. But walking away from another close loss that a more experienced team would have probably pulled off isn't easy.

"It still stings because you want to win the game," Shelton said. "... We were in a deficit game twice. We tied the game back up. We had the winning run on base. We had the tying run at third when the game ended. They continue to play against the best team in the National League and maybe in baseball. I think the biggest thing that our guys have to take away from it is there’s no letup.

"I think there are a lot of things we did [well], but still we’re looking to finish and win games."