Brandon Wood’s triple RBIs help Pittsburgh Pirates defeat Houston Astros 5-1 – MLB Update
Pittsburgh Pirates’ third baseman, Brandon Wood had a remarkable day with the bat as he hit three RBIs and went 2-for-3 with an average of .219 in the Pirates’ 5-1 victory over the Houston Astros at PNC Park, Pittsburgh on July 5.
In the first inning, Michael Bourn singled to left-centre but Jeff Keppinger flied out to left-field and Hunter Pence got out at second base without any scoring runs. Similarly, the Pirates’ batters also looked powerless at the bottom of the first inning
as Alex Presley was grounded out to short-stop and Chase D’Arnaud flied out towards right-field.
The Pirates got off the mark during the second inning by posting two quick runs and took an initial 2-0 lead. Wood struck a two-run homer (413 feet) towards right-centre and Lyle Overbay scored a single run to lift the Pirates. In the third inning, the batters
did not give any run to their teams and seemed immobilized in front of the tricky pitches.
During the fourth inning, the Pirates got a 3-0 lead when Wood singled to centre-field and Neil Walker added one run on the score-card. On the other side, the Astros scored their first and final run in the fifth inning to reduce their lead 3-1 when Clint
Barmes hit a solo homer (396 feet) to left-field.
Barmes said, “It's definitely been hard. We'll come out and be in a game for six or seven innings, and one thing happens and the game kind of gets out of control.”
Mike McKenry hit a sacrifice fly off right-field and Walker scored one run during the sixth inning. The second run was taken by Overbay when Jeff Karstens hit a sacrifice bunt towards the pitcher and Wood moved to second base at the end of the sixth inning.
Speaking to reporters, Wood said, “We're having a blast. I haven't been here too long, but hearing from some of the guys, they haven't seen games like this in a long time.”
The pitchers did not permit any run in the last three innings of the game by tossing the fastballs in the right areas. Karstens pitched superbly as he threw seven innings with an ERA of 2.55 and allowed just one run on seven hits with one earned run. He
was able to strike-out three batters on his 95 pitches.
After winning this game, the Pirates’ offence has managed to clinch the three-game series 2-0.
Tags: