Gamel, newcomer Nogowski lead Pirates in 11-1 rout over Atlanta

45 days ago, the Atlanta Braves beat the Pittsburgh Pirates by a score of 20-1.

Today, those same Pirates flipped the script on the Braves with a double-digit win of their own by a score of 11-1.

The Braves started the game off with a familiar scene with Freddie Freeman doubling to drive in leadoff hitter Ronald Acuña Jr.

But after that, it was all Buccos.

In his Pirates debut, The Big John Nogowski walked and Ben Gamel brought him home with a two-run shot to give the Pirates the lead.

The Big Nogowski came up again in the sixth with his first career RBI to put the Pirates up 3-1. Ben Gamel stepped up again and drove in another run with a double to make it 4-1. Phillip Evans grounded out to score Nogowski to increase the lead to 5-1. Two batters later, a wild pitch would make it 6-1 and end the scoring burst from the Buccos in the sixth.

But the team came right back up to bat in the seventh and felt it was necessary to add some insurance runs.

Ben Gamel crushed his second homer, this time a three-run shot, to totally bust the game open.

Tonight marked the second multi-homer game of Gamel’s career and a career high in RBI’s with six.

Ke’Bryan Hayes also homered in the eighth with a two-run shot of his own to close the scorebooks at 11-1, the eventual final score.

The 11 runs scored by the Pirates tonight is more than their last seven games combined. No, that’s not a typo.

This offense has been absolutely dreadful over the past week, so it’s nice to see the team gaining confidence and seeing the power surge.

The Pirates look to continue their win streak tomorrow night against the Braves. First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m. EST.