David Freese followed Polanco by singling to center, and Josh Bell drove in Polanco with a single down the left field line, which he unsuccessfully tried to stretch into a double, extending Pittsburgh’s lead to 4-0.Musgrove, a 23-year-old rookie, struggled coming off the worst performance of his young major league career.In his last start against the Baltimore Orioles on August 18, Musgrove allowed eight runs on 11 hits and three home runs in a 13-5 loss. Miami starter Andrew Cashner (4-10) limited the Royals to one run on four hits in six innings. And this was Nova’s first complete game since he had three in 2013. “He threw a lot of really good sinkers against a very good-hitting team with a lot of right-handed hitters and he locked them up with the ball away”.
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His bid for his third career shutout ended when Alex Bregman and Jose Altuve led off the ninth with consecutive doubles. The Astros averaged 8.8 runs during a four-game winning streak before going silent against Nova but have already clinched a winning road trip through Baltimore and Pittsburgh. The win pulled the Pirates within 2 1/2 games of the St. Louis Cardinals in the race for the second NL wild card with a key seven-game road trip on the horizon beginning Thursday.
Nova is doing his best to keep the Pirates’ hopes of a fourth consecutive postseason appearance alive after being traded for the first time in his career.
As I wrote about over the weekend, through his first three Pirate starts it looked like Ivan Nova might be becoming Ray Searage’s latest success story. Stuff like that happens, though.
It marked the second time this season and in his career Polanco hit two home runs in a game. He allowed five runs on eight hits.NOTES: Astros 3B Luis Valbuena will undergo season-ending surgery on his injured right hamstring in the next few days.
“I throw a lot of strikes and that’s been a strength for me”, he said. Joyce doubled toward PNC Park’s left field notch, scoring Frazier from first, before McCutchen sent a double of his own into the same exact spot to give the Pirates an early 2-0 lead.Polanco quickly smacked a pitch into the gap but only managed a single that was good enough to drive in McCutchen. “Experience, too. The more swings you take, the better you get every day”.
The Pirates opened the first inning with six straight hits off Musgrove (1-2).
In total, the Pirates recorded 11 hits – fiv.
Russell Martin had three hits and two RBIs, Michael Saunders homered, R.A. Dickey pitched into the seventh inning as Toronto defeated Los Angeles. Adrian Gonzalez had three RBIs and has hits in 16 consecutive games.
Musgrove, a rookie making his fourth career start, was rocked for five runs and eight hits in four innings with two strikeouts and no walks. “What is it?” general manager Neal Huntington said. “That’s part of the nature of having young starters”. He has pitches to do it. “He has a ton of competitiveness in him”. Valbuena, who has not played since July 26, hit.260 with 13 home runs and 40 RBIs in 90 games this season. OF Preston Tucker (strained right shoulder) will begin a rehab assignment Wednesday at Double-A Corpus Christi.
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Pirates right-hander Gerrit Cole (7-8, 3.30) will faces Astros right-hander Collin McHugh (7-10, 4.99) at 12:35 p.m. Wednesday in the finale of the three-game series. Pittsburgh rookie 1B Josh Bell is 4-for-9 in three straight starts.3.
