By Zachary McMahon-
The Pittsburgh Pirates played the Houston Astros in the series finale on Wednesday night as the Pirates were trying to sweep the series after winning the first two games.
Jake Woodford made his first start for the Pirates after being called up from Triple-A Indianapolis to start this game. He signed a minor league contract with the Pirates on June 10 after electing free agency after clearing waivers due to being designated by assignment by the Chicago White Sox. He made two starts for the White Sox, where he allowed 10 runs on 15 hits in just 8 ⅓ innings. He posted a 2.29 ERA in seven starts and 34 ⅓ innings pitched with the Indians before being called up. He tossed five innings in the start allowing just two hits, three unearned runs, no walks and three strikeouts.
Bryan De La Cruz made his first start for the Pirates out in right field after being traded by the Miami Marlins for RHP Jun-Seok Shim and 3B Garret Forrester on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Joshua Palacios was put on the 10-day injured list retroactive to July 30 after he was taken out of Monday’s game when he got injured on a ground ball while running for first base.
The Astros designated Rafael Montero for assignment and sent Seth Martinez to Triple-A Sugar Land, in order to make room for Caleb Ferguson and Yusei Kikuchi on the roster after they came before the trade deadline.
Framber Valdez pitched six innings for the Astros, allowing six hits, four earned runs, no walks, and 10 strikeouts for the third start in the last four.
The Pirates scored four runs in the second inning off a two-run home run by Joey Bart, a double by Jared Triolo, and a single by Andrew McCutchen. However, it would turn out to be a defensive disaster for the Pirates, as they allowed Jeremy Pena to have a two-base error on a throwing error by O’Neil Cruz. After a groundout by John Singleton advanced Pena to third, Pena scored on a wild pitch by Woodford as the Astros scored their first run of the game.
Yordan Alvarez ended up going three bases on a fielding and throwing error on Cruz in the third and Chas McCormack scored on the error after being hit by Woodford. Yainer Diaz brought home Alvarez on an RBI double to bring the deficit to one run. The Pirates would commit their fourth error of the game, although this one was not as damaging as Connor Joe dropped a ball in foul territory, while McCormick was at-bat, McCormick ended up being struck out by Woodford.
Jalen Beeks made his Bucs debut after being traded from the Colorado Rockies, but only lasted one out after Diaz singled, and struck out Pena. Colin Holderman came in to finish the inning, but his first batter was Mauricio Dubon, who hit a two-run pinch-hit home run for Singleton as the Astros had their first lead of the game.
Bryan Abreu, Ryan Pressley, and Josh Hader were able to shut down the Pirates as they hung on for the 5-4 win and avoided a series sweep.
The Pirates were not issued any walks by the Astros pitching staff, as their streak of 72 straight games with a walk comes to an end, which is the second longest streak this season after the inner-state rival Philadelphia Phillies had 75 straight games earlier this season. The longest streaks that are currently going on now are the Milwaukee Brewers who have walked in the last 59 games, and the Los Angeles Dodgers who are on a 54-game streak.
De La Cruz singled twice in the game, so he extended his hitting streak to six games. Bryan Reynolds reached twice on error to bring his on-base streak to 11 games.
The Bucos will now host a series against the Arizona Diamondbacks starting on Friday for some revenge after losing two out of three games last weekend in Phoenix. Luis Ortiz will go up against Brandon Pfaddt at 6:40 pm first pitch on Friday. The Astros will stay at home as they will host the Tampa Bay Rays on a three-game weekend series. On Friday, Kikuchi will make his first start for the Astros, and he will be going up against Shane Baz at 8:10 pm first pitch.
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