Adam Duvall finally confident as Braves end series against Pirates

Adam Duvall led the National League with 113 RBIs in 2021 and was an All-Star in 2016. But the 35-year-old outfielder, who also won a Gold Glove when he helped the Atlanta Braves win the World Series three years ago, has struggled in 2024.

Let’s just say I had a really hard time.

Duvall has just a .167 batting average this season and finally reached the 20-RBI mark in a 2-1 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Saturday afternoon when he opened the bottom of the 10th inning with a walk-off RBI single.

Duvall also prevented a run in the sixth inning by catching a sharp fly ball from Michael A. Taylor with a spectacular jump on the right outfield boundary.

Atlanta hopes Duvall stays in top form as it looks to win three games against Pittsburgh on Sunday morning.

“It was a good feeling to finally get through for the team,” Duvall told Bally Sports. “I’ve been working hard and it’s a good feeling to get it done.”

Rookie right-hander Spencer Schwellenbach (1-3, 5.40 ERA) will make his sixth career major league start for the Braves on Sunday, facing Pirates left-hander Bailey Falter (3-6, 4.00), who is looking to end his personal four-start losing streak.

Falter is 1-1 with a 6.41 ERA in four career starts against Atlanta. He has made five starts since his last win, which came at home against the Braves on May 24, when he allowed three runs on six hits in 7 1/3 innings.

Falter is 0-4 with a 6.63 ERA in four starts in June, and most recently allowed five runs (four earned) and five hits in four innings against the Cincinnati Reds on Monday. All five runs Falter allowed came in the fourth inning.

“I was just a little tired,” admitted Falter after his performance against Cincinnati. “I just didn’t throw a lot of pitches. Compared to the first three innings, there were a lot of first pitch balls. So they just took advantage of that.”

Still, Pirates manager Derek Shelton had reason to be encouraged.

“I think the first time he went (in the lineup), he executed the fastball really well in the top of the zone, in the inner half of the plate,” Shelton said. “It looked like the ball just slid back to the middle in the fourth inning, and that’s why we saw the hard contact.”

The 24-year-old Schwellenbach, a second-round pick out of Nebraska in 2021, had a slightly better June than Falter, going 1-2 with a 5.40 ERA in four starts.

Schwellenbach is coming off Monday’s game against the St. Louis Cardinals, where he allowed four runs on eight hits in five innings. Six days earlier, he earned his first major league win when he helped Atlanta defeat the Detroit Tigers on June 18.

MLB Pipeline has Schwellenbach ranked as the Braves’ third-best prospect, and he will make his first career appearance against the Pirates on Sunday.

Pittsburgh will look to end its troubles at Truist Park, which opened in 2017. Since then, the Pirates have a 5-19 record when visiting Atlanta.

–Field level media