Pittsburgh, PA – Garrett Jones hit a two-run home run and Starling Marte finished with three hits and two runs scored, as the Pittsburgh Pirates took down the Atlanta Braves, 5-1, in the middle test of a three-game set.
Alex Presley, Andrew McCutchen and Clint Barmes added an RBI apiece for the Pirates, who have taken the first two in the series.
Kevin Correia (12-11) scattered six hits and one run over 6 2/3 innings, fanning five and walking only one batter.
"Relief. You don't want to go into the offseason with a bad one, because you just think about it for weeks and weeks," Correia said when asked about how he felt in his last start of 2012. "So it was nice to end the year with a good start."
Jose Constanza hit safely twice and Juan Francisco added an RBI double for the Braves, who have lost three of five will face St. Louis as their wild card opponent on Friday.
Tommy Hanson (13-10) was tagged for five runs on nine hits over six full frames.
Doubles by Lyle Overbay and Francisco in the Atlanta fourth cut the visitors' deficit in half at 2-1, but the Bucs locked up the game in the fifth as Presley doubled home Marte and Jones followed with a two-run shot to right for a 5-1 score.
"My command was there at times and then I lost it," Hanson admitted of his uneven performance. "I think that was the biggest thing."
Correia exited with two down in the seventh after pinch-hitter Reed Johnson singled. Justin Wilson entered and served up a bloop single to Eric Hinske that was initially misplayed by McCutchen, but the center fielder recovered and threw out Johnson at home to end the frame.
Chris Resop tossed a scoreless eighth, then Bryan Morris retired the side in order in the ninth.
Marte scored the game's first run, doubling to begin the home first and scoring thanks to a pair of ground outs.
Josh Harrison was hit by a pitch with two down in the second, stole second, then scored on a Barmes single to give the hosts a 2-0 edge.
Game Notes
Pittsburgh won its 79th game of the season, the most in one campaign since 1999 ... Prior to the game, the Braves announced that Tim Hudson will be bumped from his planned start in Wednesday's season finale in favor of Ben Sheets, as Hudson is likely to get the nod for Game 1 of the NLDS if the club advances past the wild card game ... Sheets will then retire following his outing.
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