Pittsburgh Pirates sweep Houston Astros 5-4 – MLB Update
Garrett Jones hit a three run homer on Thursday, June 16 and Andrew McCutchen had his career-long 14-game hitting streak to complete Pittsburgh Pirates’ sweep of the series with a 5-4 win against Houston Astros at the Minute Maid Park.
"We just swept the Astros," McCutchen said. "It was nice to sweep them, felt real good about the sweep. We haven't done that all season. I don't think they can overturn us winning, so that's cool. That's something that they can't protest."
Jones charged the Astros’ starter, Jordan Lyles in the most ruthless manner in the very first inning. Jones earned a three-run homer with the strike giving an early lead that was to be defended by James McDonald.
"We've been playing really good ball, winning some series here and there, but to get a sweep here feels great," Jones said. "To play three good days of baseball and come away with three wins is definitely a confidence booster."
While Lyles was strong in the upcoming innings, he gave up a hit and two runs in the fourth inning whereby Angel Sanchez and Carlos Corporan hit him hard. Sanchez grounded out to third and Corporan hit a sacrifice fly to score their respective singles to
bring the Pirates lead down to 3-2. Houston was working hard to reduce the lead and bring the Pirates to within reach by not allowing them to run away with the game.
Hunter Pence doubled to deep left-centre to tie the score in the fifth inning. However, Jones came back in the sixth inning to score on Bourn’s error. Josh Harrison then doubled to deep right to get a 5-3 lead for the Pirates.
Pittsburgh had won the first game of series by 1-0, the second by 7-3, then overhauled their strategy. McDonald increased the pace of his fastballs and contained Houston’s hitters to pave the way for victory.
Tony Watson then replaced McDonald to pitch a shut-out seventh inning in an effort to keep the 5-3 lead intact. While Houston’s hitters tried hard to keep the ball rolling, Pittsburgh’s relievers were pitching even harder. Houston was finding it very difficult
to get anything off Watson during the inning.
Jose Veras was tasked with pitching the ninth inning after Wood was relieved. Veras gave up two hits and allowed one run to Jeff Keppinger in the ninth and sent the other hitters, Hunter Pence and Carlos Lee to sweep the series with 5-4 victory.
It will be interesting to see how the Pirates carry their winning momentum into their next match-up. The Astros put in a decent performance, but it was not enough to contain the Pirates’ offence.
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