Hunter Pence sparks as Houston Astros defeat Pittsburgh Pirates 8-2 – MLB Update
Houston Astros’ right-fielder, Hunter Pence had a remarkable day with the bat as he went 3-for-5 with an average of .331 and scored two runs with two RBIs in the Astros’ 8-2 win against the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park, Pittsburgh on July 6.
In the first inning, the Pirates’ batters put one run on the score-board and led off with 1-0. Alex Presley posted a single run when Andrew McCutchen singled towards left-field and Garrett Jones moved to second base. The batters were unable to take any run
from the second to fifth inning of the game.
At the bottom of the fifth inning, Mike McKenry lined out towards first base, Charlie Morton flied out to centre-field and Presley grounded out towards the pitcher. Sixth inning was in favour of the batters as the Astros got off the mark by blasting five
runs and the Pirates reduced their lead with the addition of one run.
Angel Sanchez doubled to centre-field and Michael Bourn added the first run for the Astros. The second run was taken by Sanchez when Pence drove a single-run shot towards centre-field. Carlos Lee tripled to deep centre and Pence completed a third run. The
last two runs were taken by Lee and Jeff Keppinger when Clint Barmes singled off centre-field.
Keppinger said, “You get a big inning like that, you have a way bigger chance of winning these games. We've been running into problems getting big hits, and we got a few big hits all in that same inning.”
On the other side, Chase D’Arnaud contributed a single run when McCutchen was grounded out to short-stop at the bottom of the sixth inning. The pitchers took a hold during the seventh and eighth inning and did not give away any run. The score-board was still
5-2 at the end of eighth inning.
The Astros’ starter, Bud Norris pitched seven innings with an ERA of 3.46 and gave up only two runs on seven hits. He permitted two walks and had three strike-outs on his 101 pitches. In the ninth inning, the Astros’ offence extended their lead 8-2 by posting
three runs.
Jason Michaels added one run when Bourn doubled to deep centre-field. The final two runs of the game were taken by Bourn and Pence. The Astros evaded their clean sweep after having an impressive win and ended the three-game series 2-1.
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