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Braves looking up for a change
PITTSBURGH -- After being in sole possession of the National League East lead every day for more than three months, they're now the second-place Braves, entering Wednesday's action.
The last-place Pirates knocked the Braves out of first place Tuesday night with a 5-0 win, while the Phillies beat the Marlins, 8-7, to take the lead that Atlanta had held since May 31.
Braves manager Bobby Cox said he senses no panic in the clubhouse.
"No, they're not," Cox said when asked if his players are pressing. "You can say that all you want, but it's not. It's a case where we ran up against some pitchers we haven't hardly seen, and that's what happens sometimes. No, we're not pressing."
The Braves, who led the division by three games a week ago, have dropped five of six. Most alarmingly, those losses have come to the Mets, Marlins and Pirates -- all clubs out of serious playoff contention. The Braves haven't been swept in a three-game series against Pittsburgh since April 29-May 1, 1994.
"I think that what some of the clubs have done down the stretch is brought up their prospects," Braves catcher Brian McCann said. "It's just showing that baseball is going to younger guys and you're seeing pitchers come up at 20 years old and hitters come up at 20. We have two of the best young players I've seen in Jason Heyward and Freddie Freeman that have come up.
"Baseball is kind of changing in that they are not waiting until you are 100 percent ready. They are kind of throwing you into the fire. You have to build a core and build around those guys, and that's what it seems that the teams that are out of the race are doing."
Cox honored before last game in Pittsburgh
PITTSBURGH -- Wednesday's game was the final one between the Braves and Pirates this season and the last managed by Bobby Cox in Pittsburgh. Before the game, the Bucs paid tribute to Cox, who will retire after the season.
Cox's Braves beat the Pirates in two epic National League Championship Series in 1991 and '92, winning both series 4-3.
"I hate the thought of my last time in Pittsburgh," Cox said. "I've gotten to know the clubhouse guys and the ground crew guys and people like that who you make friends with over the course of a career, and it may be the last time I'll ever get a chance to see them. I've said goodbye to an awful lot of people."
The loss to the Braves in the '92 NLCS was a significant moment in Pirates history. They began their 18-season losing streak after that tough defeat.
"It's the most fun you can ever have being in the playoffs or going down the stretch in September, with all the pressure and the stress and believe me, there was pressure and stress during that series," Cox said. "The Pirates played just as well as we did and we happened to win."
Pirates president Frank Coonelly and manager John Russell presented Cox with a $5,000 check before the game benefiting Cox's favorite charity, Homeless Pets Foundation, and the Pirates played a brief video tribute.
"What the teams are doing makes me feel very humble," Cox said. "That they would recognize the career we've had here with the organization, it's very nice of them to do that and I'm very thankful."
Club calls up flamethrower Kimbrel
PITTSBURGH -- The Braves may be looking at the future when they see young right-hander Craig Kimbrel, whom they called up Tuesday.
Kimbrel was 2-0 with a 0.96 ERA in nine big league appearances earlier this year. He finished with 23 saves, a 3-2 record and a 1.62 ERA in 48 games with Triple-A Gwinnett.
"Kimbrel is a future All-Star closer, we think," manager Bobby Cox said. "He throws hard and he's got a buckling curveball. He's a kid that fights his control every once in awhile, but he's got strikeout stuff."
Worth noting
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the Pirates, who entered Tuesday night's game 45 games under .500, shut out the Braves (5-0), who came into the game at 20 games over .500. Over the last 30 seasons, there have been only two other shutouts by a team that was at least 40 games under .500 against a team that was at least 20 games over .500. The then-Devil Rays against the Yankees in 2001 and the Pirates against the Mets in 1985. ... In Atlanta's last 15 road losses, dating back to July 23, the club has stranded 122 runners, including 33 in their four losses on this road trip.
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