PITTSBURGH — The Pirates should absolutely feel encouraged by what they did against the Houston Astros on Tuesday night, erasing an early deficit before using Ji Hwan Bae’s walk-off home run to atone for a late lead they had let slip away.
However, 24 hours later, the Astros did what most teams of their ilk routinely do: They turned the page and outplayed the Pirates in several facets to claim the series win with a 7-0 victory at PNC Park on Wednesday afternoon.
After the Pirates struggled to elevate the ball against Monday’s starter, Framber Valdez, and then went the other direction by mashing three home runs against Cristian Javier, well, this one sort of boomeranged back to the beginning.
Pittsburgh had a tough time solving Jose Urquidy, who was part of Team Mexico’s run to the World Baseball Classic semifinals and leads all foreign-born players in MLB history with three World Series wins, going 3-0 with a 1.23 ERA in five contests.
Urquidy, who enjoyed a career-best year in 2022, delivered six shutout innings on Wednesday, allowing two hits and three walks while striking out two. The Pirates swung and missed 15 times and had a tough time squaring up Urquidy’s changeup.
It was a 2-0 game while Rich Hill was in there, but the wheels came off after Dauri Moreta took over for the seventh.
The big blow came courtesy of third baseman Alex Bregman, who blasted a three-run homer off Moreta in the seventh. Moreta fell into a 2-0 hole and grooved a fastball that Bregman crushed to left.
This was actually a solid start for Hill, who worked six innings and allowed two earned runs on five hits. Leaning primarily on his cutter and curveball, Hill threw his fastball just 23% of the time, which is about 13% below his season average.
If there’s any lesson to be learned from this one, it’s this: The Pirates are certainly a capable team, as evidenced by what they did on Tuesday. Occasionally exciting, too. But the Astros are also trying to become MLB’s first repeat champion since the Yankees (1998-2000).
Their pitching staff is incredibly deep. Their offense is solid. And they’re well versed in putting losses like the one they suffered Tuesday behind them. In fact, this was the 14th consecutive getaway game the Astros have won, further proof they know how to finish out a series.
ON THE MOUND
This was certainly a much-needed rebound from Hill, who had a 10.00 ERA with five home runs allowed over his first two starts (totaling nine innings). The left-hander didn’t notch a strikeout, but he consistently induced weak contact and mostly kept the ball in the yard.
Hill had just one 1-2-3 inning — the fifth — and stranded a two-out double from Astros second baseman Mauricio Dubon in the second. Houston grabbed a 1-0 lead in the third inning when first baseman Jose Abreu doubled to left-center.
Give Hill credit: He refused to give in and flipped a full-count curveball to Abreu. The bad part was that he left it out over the plate, leading to a line drive to the North Side Notch.
Left fielder Corey Julks increased Houston’s lead to 2-0 with a solo home run in the fourth. Hill delivered an 0-1 cutter. Julks turned on the inside pitch, driving it 405 feet over the fence in left.
AT THE PLATE
With the Astros’ top catcher, Martin Maldonado, on the bench, the Pirates tried to take advantage on the bases. Andrew McCutchen swiped second in the first inning. Ji Hwan Bae did so in the third. However, Connor Joe was thrown out to end the fourth.
The Pirates didn’t get their first hit until Carlos Santana’s double to the right-center gap in the fourth. Jack Suwinski’s single to open the fifth was wiped out by a double play.
Another thing limiting the Pirates on Wednesday was Houston’s outfield play, which was outstanding. Center fielder Chas McCormick made a spectacular diving grab to rob Ke’Bryan Hayes on a sinking liner in the second.
Kyle Tucker deftly navigated the warning track in right to grab a ball hit by McCutchen in the fourth before Julks dove to deny Bae two innings later.
UP NEXT
After nine consecutive games against American League opponents, the Pirates begin a seven-game road trip Thursday with a four-game series at St. Louis, followed by three in Denver.
