Pittsburgh Pirates edge Houston Astros 8-7 at PNC Park – MLB Update
Pittsburgh Pirates continued their impressive winning streak as the beat the Houston Astros 8-7 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on Tuesday, July 3 in the second game of their four match series of the 2012 Major League Baseball regular season.
After the Astros had taken an early 4-0 lead, it seemed they will cruise to a straightforward win to level the series. Andrew McCutchen once again took all the responsibility on his shoulders as he homered to right in the fourth inning to bring the Pirates
back into the contest.
Garrett Jones homered to right in the seventh as Pittsburgh comeback from behind to take a 7-6 lead. Second baseman Drew Sutton played a key role in deciding the outcome of the game, hitting a tie breaking home-run in the bottom of the ninth as the Pirates
secured an emphatic 8-7 victory.
"It's why we play the game," said Sutton, who is with his third team this season. "Even guys like me, who bounce around from team to team, every once in a while, you get a moment. You'd better enjoy it."
"We've been in a good place for a while now," Hurdle said. "But I didn't have Sutton, home run, right-handed, to center field. I was just looking for a way to get a man on base and give Cutch a chance to swing the bat -- and he kept Cutch from having to
go up there."
Pirates hammered the Astros 11-2 in the series opener and they continued to play aggressively on Tuesday to take an impassable 2-0 lead. With their win against Houston, they have now moved to first place on National League Central Division standings table.
Credit should be given to the Manager Clint Hurdle for leading his side out of trouble on many occasions this season.
It will be interesting to see if Pittsburgh can maintain their excellent form in the next two games to sweep the Astros.
Houston, on the other hand, will be disappointed with the result of the game. There were several good individual performances by the Astros but collectively, they were unable to overcome the Pirates, losing 7-8 in a thrilling encounter.
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