The Astros lost for the 4th straight game Friday night in Pittsburgh, as the Pirates took game one of the weekend series 12-5.
Rookie starter Taylor Buchholz was pounded for 9 runs on 1 hits and failed to get out of the 4th inning. The Astros had a 4-2 before the explosion.
Willy Taveras , Mike Lamb , and Preston Wilson each had 3 hits, and Morgan Ensberg slammed his 17th dinger of the year, but it wasn’t enough to keep the good guys from losing their 15th road game of the year and 4th straight defeat on this extended road trip.
“I got behind a bunch of guys and left same fat pitches right over the middle and they hit them pretty good,” Buchholz said. “It’s part of being a rookie, you take your ups and downs.”
“We made mistakes tonight, and they absolutely pounded them,” Phil Garner said of his defending NL champions. “That’s been a problem the last few series, we haven’t been able to get the ball where we wanted to. … It’s a mystery because we’re better than that, but we’re in a rotten rut right now.”
Saturday’s matchup is Wandy Rodriguez vs. Pat Maholm at 6:05 CST.