Pirates’ LaValliere Blunts Braves in 10th : NL playoffs: His two-out single drives in Van Slyke as Pittsburgh rallies to even the series at two games apiece, 3-2.

ATLANTA —  The Tomahawk Chop was finally stopped Sunday by the Pittsburgh Pirates, who finally stuck a solid, round object in its path.

His name is Mike LaValliere.

Shortly after midnight, LaValliere, making his fourth pinch-hit appearance of the season, turned his 5-foot-10, 210-pound frame into a fastball from the Atlanta Braves’ Mark Wohlers. And a stadium filled with whooping fans was silenced.

LaValliere drove the ball into right field for a two-out single that scored Andy Van Slyke from second base and gave the Pirates a 3-2, 10-inning comeback victory over the Braves, evening the National League playoffs at two games apiece.

Before 51,109 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, the Pirates showed they have the nerve and the pitching to take this pennant fight to the end.

They trailed, 2-0, after one inning, but three pitchers held the Braves to three hits in nine shutout innings thereafter while saving the heroics for LaValliere, a platoon catcher who got only his second pinch-hit in two seasons.

“The last two years in the playoffs, it seems like all we’ve gone through is turmoil . . . at one point, maybe you start thinking you have something to prove to people,” said Barry Bonds, whose diving catch of David Justice’s line drive in left field saved a potential run in the eighth inning.

“You know,” Bonds added, “we didn’t win two straight division titles for nothing. We didn’t win them with turmoil. We won them because we know how to play, all 25 guys.”

Besides Bonds’ catch, the Pirates also helped themselves defensively in the seventh inning when second baseman Jose Lind actually backed up center fielder Van Slyke after Van Slyke missed a diving attempt on Lonnie Smith’s fly ball. Lind ended up throwing Smith out at second base on the play.

But nowhere was the Pirates’ balance more evident than with LaValliere, who got his first hit in this series and his first hit in nine career postseason at-bats.

In fact, he said it was the first time in his pro career he had ever even been used as a pinch-hitter so late in a game.

“The only other time I remember something like this was in ‘A’ ball, when I went into the game in the ninth inning and it was like 120 degrees,” he said.

“Everybody was tired, so I just cooly stepped up there and hit a sacrifice fly to score arun.”

It was a bit more dramatic Sunday after Kent Mercker, who took the mound for the Braves in the 10th as their fourth pitcher, walked leadoff hitter Van Slyke on four pitches. Two outs later Van Slyke stole second, then Mercker walked Steve Buechele.

Wohlers, a right-hander, replaced the left-handed Mercker. Don Slaught, the Pirates’ catcher against left-handed pitchers, was replaced at the plate by LaValliere.

It would make for a better story if LaValliere had spent the previous three or four innings stretching and exercising so he would not be tight in the cool weather.

But LaValliere, known to his teammates as “Spanky,” had better things to do.

“I didn’t run because, well, if I ran, I might have gotten tired,” he said with a shrug.

He was quickly placed on his toes when Wohlers threw him a first-pitch called strike. LaValliere then fouled off two pitches before running the count to 2-and-2.

Then came the hit, on a low pitch that he stroked as if he knew it was coming.

“He’s a catcher, he studies pitchers, he knows about those things,” Bonds said.

Said LaValliere: “Well, not really. I had never faced this guy before.”

Bobby Cox, the Braves’ manager, was left to lament the exposure of his team’s biggest weakness, its bullpen.

“I thought a fresh arm would be a good idea,” he said of Wohlers.

Stan Belinda, pitching as if he was fresh even though he was in his second inning, retired the Braves in order in the 10th for the victory, although Smith’s fly ball drove right fielder Bobby Bonilla to the wall.

“This was a weight off our shoulders,” Pirate shortstop Jay Bell said.

It was the Pirates’ first victory here after seven consecutive defeats. And LaValliere’s single was only the Pirates’ sixth hit in 40 at-bats (.150) with runners in scoring position in the series.

And if the Braves are going to win this series, they will now have to win it in Pittsburgh, where Games 6 and 7 will be played next week after Game 5 here today.

Not that the Braves are worried.

“All this means is, we have to go to Pittsburgh--we’ll just win it in Pittsburgh,” Justicesaid.

The Braves scored two first-inning runs on a double, three singles and a bad throw by left fielder Bonds.

But Pirate starter Randy Tomlin settled down to give up only two hits in the next five innings while the Pirates’ offense was scratching out runs in the second and fifth innings to tie.

“I thought, ‘Oh, no, here we go again, we can’t win here and they always score about 10 runs against us,’ ” said reliever Bob Walk, who threw two scoreless innings after Tomlin. “But tonight we finally said, ‘Let’s stop it right here.’ ”

In the second, the Pirates scored on a walk to Bonilla and singles by Buechele and Slaught, who got his first run batted in of the series.

In the fifth, they scored on singles by Gary Redus and Bell and a throwing error by right fielder Justice, who was attempting to nail Redus at third base after Bell’s single. The ball skipped past Terry Pendleton and Redus scored.