It was a pitcher’s duel on this night with Wandy Rodriquez of the Houston Astros squaring off with Pat Maholm of the Pittsburgh nine. Maholm looked for all the world to be a man destined for an early exit from the game the way things started for him on the night. In the first, the Astros leadoff hitter and red-hot Jason Bourgeois singled, stole second, advanced to third on Michael Bourn’s single and then scored on Hunter Pence’s long fly ball to right. The ‘stros promptly continued to put pressure on Maholm, but the “bend but do not break” rule came into play and no more damage was inflicted.
After that, both pitchers threw up zeros at opposing hitters for pretty much the whole game. Wandy held the Pyroots down until they broke through for the tying run in the fifth. Maholm, for his part, settled down and baffled the Astros as he is prone to do at PNC park. The game stayed tied until the 7th when Neil Walker jumped on a low fastball and cleared the fence to give the Buccos the lead, 2-1. Wandy pitched a dandy of a game, so it would have been lousy had he walked away with a loss to show for it. Instead, the Astros came back and pushed across a run when Michael Bourn led off the inning with a single and scored on a Pence double to right. “There are ribeyes out there son!” Pence then scored the go ahead run on a Carlos Lee single and now Wandy was in line to win a game.
So for their part, the team made the lead stick and newly anointed closer Mark Melanchon closed the deal in the ninth earning his first save of his career. Here is hoping for many more to come. Good game and the Astros and Pirates go at it again on Saturday in game two of the series.