Pirates at Astros, 9/8/08
Astros 3, Pirates 2
W: Arias (1-0) L: Snell (6-11) S: Valverde (41)
HR: Saccomanno (1)
Alberto Arias had 21 innings of big-league experience entering tonight’s game, all in relief with Colorado. Naturally, he went 9 up, 9 down with 5 strikeouts on his first trip through the lineup. Some creative baserunning by Nyjer Morgan, no doubt distracted by the thought of “where the hell did I get this first name?”, resulted in a 3-2 putout on a thrown away pickoff in the fourth. That play allowed Arias to survive a scoreless fourth despite 2 hits and 2 walks.
Mark Saccomanno had zero major league at bats entering tonight’s game, but fortunately, mom and dad live in town so they could attend his major league debut. Hope they hadn’t hit the concession stand, because it lasted one pitch. Well, one pitch and a trip around the bases, as Saccomanno became the 25th player in MLB history to homer on the first pitch he ever faced.
Wesley the Kid made it close in the sixth, but the bullpen was able to rally and nail down a 3-2 victory to close the gab with the Brewers to 5 games.