Contributed by austro
PNC Park
July 17, 2010
Astros 6 Pirates 12
WP Lopez (2-1) LP Norris (2-7)
The Astros have been almost comically inept at times this year. Saturday night was one of those times.
The fun started in the bottom of the 1st, when Chris Johnson made a nice pick-up of a hopper between 3rd and short but threw poorly to 1st. That was followed by a single, a double, a strikeout, a single by the spectacular Lastings Milledge, and a pop-up by catcher Kratz in his first ML AB. When the smoke cleared, the Astros were down 3-0.
Pence led off the 2nd with a drive to the seats in LF. Castro lined a single to right, and then Sanchez drove a ball to deep RCF that misplayed into a double, driving in Johnson and leaving Castro and Sanchez on 3rd and 2nd. Then Norris bunted for a base hit, leaving the bases loaded. Bourn then doubled over an inexplicably drawn-in outfield, leaving Norris on 3rd and Bourn on 2nd, and still no outs.
At this point, it seemed that the Astros were about to make a mockery of things. They were, but not the way I expected. Keppinger grounded a ball up the middle and somehow Bourn managed to get himself tagged out on the play. Berkman then walked, and that was the end of the evening for Ohlendorf. Carrasco came in to relieve,and then Lee came up and performed his GIDP specialty. The Astros went to the bottom of the inning leading 4-3, but the lost opportunity foreshadowed later trouble.
The Astros immediately gave the lead back to the Pirates in the bottom of the 2nd. Cedeno led off with a double, followed one out later by a McCutchen walk. Tabata spanked a double, scoring Cedeno and McCutchen and giving the Pirates a 5-4 lead.
The Astros gave it one more shot in the 5th inning. Berkman walked with one out, and after a Lee fly out, Pence singled to RF. The Pirates replaced Carrasco with Lopez, and Johnson greeted him with a solid double to CF, scoring Berkman and Pence and giving the Astros a 6-5 lead. However, that lead was short-lived, as the Pirates scored two in the bottom of the inning. Norris got the first two outs of the inning but couldn’t ever get a third. Successive singles by Milledge, Kratz (his first ML hit), and Cedeno scored a run and chased Norris. Sampson came on to pitch, and Church greeted him with a pinch single to drive in Milledge and reclaim a 7-6 lead for the Pirates.
And that was the end of the offense for the Astros. The Pirates abused a variety of Astros relievers for 5 more runs before it was all over. Ugly.
The Astros will go for the series win Sunday at 12:30pm. Oswalt will face off against Maholm. A win for Roy will tie the club record for victories (with Niekro), so come join the fun in the GameZone.