Pirates stop losing streak
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Jason Bay and Adam LaRoche each drove in two runs and the Pittsburgh Pirates won for the first time since the All-Star break, beating the Houston Astros 7-3 Saturday night to stop a seven-game losing streak. The Pirates were outscored 43-20 during a slide that included three-game sweeps by Atlanta and Colorado. The skid was their longest since they lost eight in a row immediately before winning their final two last season.
With Paul Maholm (6-12) avoiding a major league-leading 13th loss by pitching effectively over 6 2-3 innings, the Pirates exited last place in the NL Central after falling there for the first time this season by losing to Houston 2-1 on Friday night.
Maholm ran his scoreless innings streak against the Astros to 15 before tiring in the seventh, when he gave up Mike Lamb’s leadoff homer and Hunter Pence’s RBI double. Maholm shut out the Astros on five hits over the first six innings in his first start against them since his three-hit shutout on April 24 in Pittsburgh.
Maholm, who allowed eight hits, left with runners on second and third and the Pirates up 6-2 in the seventh. Salomon Torres then got Mark Loretta on a groundout. The Pirates have won seven of eight against Houston this season.
Freddy Sanchez hit a solo homer, his fifth, and scored three times for the Pirates, who hadn’t won in 13 days since beating the Cubs 6-2 in their final game before the break on July 8.
Houston’s Wandy Rodriguez (6-9) was ineffective for the second start in a row despite not allowing a hit until Matt Kata’s leadoff single to start a two-run fourth. Sanchez and LaRoche singled to load the bases before Rodriguez hit Xavier Nady with a pitch to force in a run and Bay hit the first of his two sacrifice flies.
Bay’s second sacrifice fly came an inning later, when the Pirates scored four times to make it 6-0 on Kata’s RBI double and LaRoche’s two-run single. Kata, released by Texas earlier this season, had two hits and scored twice in his second start since being called up by the Pirates on June 30.
Bay, a consistent run producer since 2004 but slumping since early June, had multiple RBIs for only the second time in 21 games and the third time in 39 games.
Rodriguez gave up six runs, four earned, in five innings. Since pitching 16 scoreless innings in consecutive starts to beat the Rockies and Mets, he has yielded 11 earned runs in 8 1-3 innings while losing to the Cubs and Pirates.
Shawn Chacon pitched the ninth in a non-save situation.
Notes: Houston’s Lance Berkman (swollen hand) didn’t start for the second game in a row, but struck out against Damaso Marte as a pinch-hitter in the eighth to strand two runners. … During a pregame ceremony to retire Hall of Famer Paul Waner’s number, the Pirates recognized Astros INF Craig Biggio for reaching the 3,000-hit plateau. Biggio left the Astros’ dugout and tipped his cap while receiving a standing ovation. … Houston 3B Morgan Ensberg’s throwing error on Maholm’s sacrifice bunt aided the four-run fifth. … Bay has 11 RBIs in 16 career at-bats against Rodriguez.