Pirates walk it off

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Joey Bart’s fielder’s choice on a hard ground ball in the bottom of the ninth inning lifted the Pittsburgh Pirates over the Atlanta Braves 4-3 on Sunday to win two in a three-game series.

Bart hit a sharp grounder with the infield drawn in that hit off shortstop Nick Allen’s glove and scored Adam Frazier. It was Bart’s second career walk-off RBI.

The Pirates fired manager Derek Shelton before the series and replaced him with bench coach Don Kelly. Pittsburgh had lost seven games in a row and 10 of 11 before the change.

The Braves (19-21) failed to reach .500 for the first time this season after winning five of their previous seven games.

Pinch-hitter Sean Murphy pulled the Braves into a 3-3 tie in the eighth inning when he lined a three-run double to left-center with two out.

Dennis Santana (1-1) pitched a scoreless ninth for the win. The Pirates’ winning rally came against Raisel Iglesias (2-3).

Pirates starter Carmen Mlodzinski pitched 5 2/3 scoreless innings in the longest outing of his three-year career. He allowed four hits, struck out two and walked one.

Braves starter Chris Sale gave up three runs — two earned — in 5 2/3 innings.

Key moment

Back-to-back singles by pinch-hitter Frazier and Ke’Bryan Hayes put runners on first and third to start the ninth. Hayes advanced on Bryan Reynolds’ slow roller to second and Andrew McCutchen was intentionally walked, setting the stage for Bart.

Key stat

The Pirates have failed to score more than four runs in 17 consecutive games, breaking the franchise record set in 1908.

Up next

The Braves open a four-game series at Washington on Monday night with RHP Grant Holmes (2-3, 4.58) pitching against RHP Jake Irvin (2-1, 3.94) while the Pirates begin a three-game series in New York against the Mets with RHP Paul Skenes (3-4, 2.77) facing LHP David Peterson (2-2, 3.05).

Bud Black fired

DENVER (AP) — It’s no longer Bud Black’s job to steer the Colorado Rockies away from baseball infamy.

The team fired Black, the winningest manager in franchise history, after a 7-33 start that’s one of the worst in Major League Baseball history.

Colorado promoted third base coach Warren Schaeffer to be the interim manager, the team announced Sunday after a 9-3 win over San Diego. That victory wasn’t enough to save Black’s job after the Rockies lost 21-0 to the Padres on Saturday night. They also fired bench coach Mike Redmond. Hitting coach Clint Hurdle takes over as interim bench coach.

The Rockies have the worst 40-game start since the 1988 Baltimore Orioles, who were 6-34.

“Our play so far this season, especially coming off the last two seasons, has been unacceptable. Our fans deserve better, and we are capable of better,” Rockies owner, chairman and CEO Dick Monfort, said in a statement. “While we all share responsibility in how this season has played out, these changes are necessary.”

Colorado is 19 1/2 games out of first place in the NL West. The Rockies have been outscored by 128 runs so far this season. The only team since 1900 with a worse run differential through 40 games was the 2023 Oakland Athletics (-144).

“We have to get better and move forward — we owe it to our fans to play better baseball,” general manager Bill Schmidt said Sunday.

On Saturday afternoon, Schmidt backed Black, saying, “Buddy’s doing a good job right now. They’re showing up for work and playing with effort.”

Hours later, the Rockies were routed by the Padres.

Schmidt said he was attempting to get everything in place Sunday morning to make the move after the game — win or lose.

“I know it took a little air out of winning the game,” said Schmidt, whose team snapped an eight-game slide.

Kyle Larson wins again at Kansas

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Kyle Larson took most of the drama out of his second straight spring victory at Kansas Speedway on Sunday.

After putting his No. 5 car on the pole for Hendrick Motorsports, Larson led 221 of 267 laps, winning both stages and cruising to his third NASCAR Cup Series win of the season. He was never challenged down the stretch by second-finishing Christopher Bell — and he most certainly didn’t need another last-lap pass to win at the wire like he did a year ago.

The margin over Chris Buescher then was 0.001 seconds, the closest in Cup Series history. It was 0.712 seconds on Sunday.

“Glad to not win by an inch this time,” Larson said with a smile. “A little safer gap.”

Larson, who also has wins at Homestead and Bristol, has finished in the top four in each of his past four Cup Series races, and now he will take that momentum to Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Larson will be on track Tuesday as he begins another shot at “the Double” — running every lap of the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600 on the same day Memorial Day weekend.

Last year, he contended in the rain-delayed Indy 500 before a speeding penalty on pit road resulted in an 18th-place finish.

He then hopped a flight to Charlotte for the NASCAR race, but rain there kept him from ever completing a lap.

“It’s a cool win here at Kansas,” Larson said in victory lane, “and now we’ll try to execute two good weeks at Indy.”

Even though Larson spent most of a hot, sunny day at Kansas in the lead, he found himself trailing Chase Elliott early in the final stage. But when Elliott’s team dropped the jack too soon before his right rear tire was on during a pit stop, Larson was able to get back to the front on the restart, and he spent the last 50 laps cruising to the checkered flag.

Bell, a three-time winner already, finished in the top three for the sixth time this season. Ryan Blaney came in third, giving Team Penske another good run after Austin Cindric won two weeks ago at Talladega and Joey Logano won last week at Texas.

“I was just trying to get to the end. I know Ryan was coming on really strong there,” Bell said. “I feel like our day was kind of a product of qualifying well and having good pit stops and restarts.”

Blaney knew he was coming on strong, too, but he was left to lament what might have been.

“We were kind of running those guys down quick,” Blaney said. “A few more laps, I would have scared the 5 a bit at least.”

Chase Briscoe finished fourth and Larson’s teammate Alex Bowman rounded out the top five.

Brad Keselowski looked as if he might finally have his first top-10 finish this season. He started from the rear but steadily made his way forward, and the 2012 series champion had moved into second behind Elliott when his right rear went down with 72 laps to go. Keselowski wound up in the wall, ending his hopes of contending.

“I mean, it was going to be a great day,” Keselowski said. “I heard a big boom and around it went. It’s unfortunate.”

Denny Hamlin also had a fast car all afternoon, but he wound up fighting a clutch problem that made pitting a nightmare. He was still running with the leaders before Keselowski’s caution, when yet more clutch trouble finally ruined his day.

“Really fast again,” Hamlin said. “Just can’t keep it together right now.”

Green and yellow

There had been only one non-stage caution before Keselowski hit the wall. Cody Ware, Daniel Suarez and Ty Dillon brought out another in a wreck on the restart; Kyle Busch was bumped and spun to bring out another yellow on the next restart; and Justin Haley, Erik Jones and Bubba Wallace were involved in another wreck on a third consecutive restart.

Odds and ends

Larson won for the 32nd time, and joined Hamlin and Busch as the only active Cup Series drivers to have led more than 10,000 laps. … Briscoe was fourth for the fourth time this season. He has yet to finish better. … Larson made it three straight wins for Chevrolet at Kansas Speedway. Ross Chastain won the fall race last season. … Hamlin’s streak of seven straight top-10s at Kansas ended. He finished 36th. … Logano challenged for second late in the race before finishing ninth.

Up next

The All-Star Race is up next Sunday at North Wilkesboro, where Logano is the defending champ. There are changes to the format this year, including an optional promoter’s caution flag, which could dramatically reshape the 250-lap race.

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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing