ATLANTA (AP) — Adam Duvall homered twice off José Quintana, William Contreras and Matt Olson also connected, and the Atlanta Braves won their 11th straight game, 5-3 over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday.
The defending World Series champion Braves began the day having trimmed five games off the New York Mets’ division lead since the winning streak started June 1. They were 5½ games back in the NL East.
This stretch is the club’s best since it won 14 in a row from July 26 to Aug. 9, 2013. During the streak, Atlanta has outscored opponents 74-30 with 22 homers. The pitching staff has a 2.32 ERA over the same span.
It’s been equally fun for Duvall, who has mostly scuffled this season with a .206 batting average, six homers and a .614 OPS. Last year, Duvall led the NL with 113 RBIs and was second with 38 homers.
He has seven extra-base hits over his last four games.
“We’re playing good baseball and getting some timely hits is key, so it feels good,” he said.
Pittsburgh has lost a season-high six straight games, including four against the Braves. The Pirates were swept for the fifth time this season.
“We need to get out of Atlanta,” Pittsburgh manager Derek Shelton said. “That’s a good baseball team.”
The Braves went back-to-back in the second when Contreras hit the left-field foul pole for his ninth homer and Duvall connected to left to make it 2-0. Olson hit his eighth homer in the eighth, pushing the lead to 5-3 against Chase De Jong.
Pittsburgh pulled within 2-1 in the third on Bryan Reynolds’ sacrifice fly. Reynolds’ two-run homer off Kyle Wright, his former Vanderbilt teammate and roommate, cut the lead to 4-3 in the fifth.
“I struck him out the first time, though,” Wright said with a grin. “He’s awesome. He’s an…