The Pirates broke their scoreless inning streak but managed only four hits in losing to Houston and Roy Oswalt. The losing streak continues at four games.
Oswalt pitched seven strong innings to get the win. He allowed three runs on four hits and one walk. All the runs came in his final frame. Ryan Church reached on an error from Oswalt and Garrett Jones broke a power outage with a two run homer. Jeff Clement followed with a solo shot.
That wasn’t enough as the Astros had given Oswalt a 4-0 cushion. With Houston already leading 1-0, Carlos Lee hit a bloop double that knocked in two in the sixth inning. Pedro Feliz followed with a double, plating Lee.
Brandon Lyon (briefly a Pirate) and Matt Lindstrom each tossed a perfect inning to wrap up the win. Maholm was charged with all four runs over seven innings. He gave up seven hits and two walks.
The Good
Scoring
Hitting two homers.
Nothing to complain about from Maholm.
The Bad
Falling deeper below .500.
Haven’t seen the clip, but apparently the first run of the game scored when Jeff Keppinger (former Pirate farm hand) doubled through the legs of 3B Delwyn Young. Not sure what that means or what that looks like.
The Rest
Oswalt pushed his career mark to 14-7 versus Pittsburgh. His career ERA is nearly a half a run below 3.00 against the Pirates.
This was the Pirates first two homer game since April 13.
Jones entered the game having not homered in 59 straight plate appearances. His last homer was his first AB of the second game of the year. He had six RBI two games into the season and has six RBI in his last 14 games.
Aki Iwamura is in a 1-23 slump.
Maholm was 8-4 against Houston in his lifetime. Those 8 wins represent a career best versus a single opponent. His four wins in Minute Maid Park are his most wins in any stadium outside of PNC.
