Pittsburgh Pirates debutant Starling Marte lays foundation of 5-3 win over Houston Astros – MLB
The Pittsburgh Pirates debutant Starling Marte on Thursday, July 26, hit a solo homer to help the team beat the Houston Astros 5-3 at Minute Maid Park. Marte’s homer elicited tremendous excitement and cheer as he became the third player in franchise’s history to homer in his first at-bat.
"I told some players in the dugout before the game that if he threw a fastball down the middle I was going to take a hack at it and that's exactly what I did," Marte said.
The perfect start that he made along with Garrett Jones – who added a two-run homer in the same inning, was then retained by A. J. Burnett who pitched wonderfully to solidify the team’s defence.
It was in the second inning that Clint Barmes – who was previously associated with the Astros, hit another two-run homer to make it 5-0 for the Pittsburgh Pirates. That lead was good enough for the team to strengthen the grip on the game.
Astros’ Dallas Keuchel went to have six innings to allow five runs and as many hits with 4.63 ERA. Burnett, who went on to have a stronger presence on the mound until the seventh inning, gave up back-to-back solo homers to Chris Johnson and Carlos Corporan that brought the Pirates lead down to 5-2.
Chris Johnson then singled to left in the ninth to make it 5-3 for the Astros. But Joel Hanrahan retained his ground and pitched effectively to wrap up the game with 5-3 win for the Pittsburgh Pirates, a rather good start in the four-game series.
This was 23rd loss for the Houston Astros in as many as 26 games, a slump that remains a source of great concern for the team as a whole.
"It's hard coming in every day and getting beat; guys are getting (ticked) off a little bit, and they want to come out here and get a win," Johnson said. "Tomorrow we are going to have to come out here and do whatever we can to get a win. That is what it has to be."
Whether the team succeeds in performing as outstandingly well as is required is something that will be seen on Friday when the second match of the four-game series will be played.
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