Pittsburgh Pirates’ Ivan Nova, left, and Francisco Cervelli embrace after the Pirates defeated the Houston Astros 7-1 in a baseball game in Pittsburgh, Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2016.
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Three of the four left-handed hitters in that sequence (Joyce, Polanco and Bell) went the other way against Musgrove for their base hits as Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle decided some lefties in the lineup would actually be a good idea compared to his puzzling Monday nine.
Headed our way in Major League Baseball action on Wednesday, we’ve got the series finale between the Houston Astros and the Pittsburgh Pirates from PNC Park.
The Astros’ Marwin Gonzalez had three hits.
Neftali Feliz was greeted in the ninth inning by a lead-off Alex Bregman home run. McHugh is making his second career start versus Pittsburgh and the Astros won his previous two outings against NL opponents this season, allowing a total of four runs in 15 2/3 innings against St. Louis and Arizona.Cole is trying to end his own winless string after failing to earn the victory for a third straight start on Friday against Miami.
Houston still as a chance to win the series with an early 11:35 CT start Wednesday morning. Three of those 12 hits were home runs by the Orioles, who had six home runs on the night. Matt Joyce and Andrew McCutchen hit consecutive RBI doubles then Polanco and rookie Josh Bell drove in runs with singles. He outdueled Derek Holland (5-6), who gave up one run on four hits in six innings. Both teams entered 3 1/2 games out of the second wild card in their respective leagues.
Red Sox 6, Rays 2 • David Price limited his old team to two hits in eight scoreless innings, helping visiting Boston beat Tampa Bay to move into a tie for first place in the AL East. Price (12-8) walked two, struck out eight and didn’t allow a runner past first base while extending Tampa Bay’s scoring drought against Boston to 25 innings dating to a series at Fenway Park before the All-Star break. “What is it?” general manager Neal Huntington said. He’s got to learn to battle himself through his first back-to-back games of adversity. Fister had a final game score of 80, while allowing three hits in seven innings. “He has a ton of competitiveness in him”.
Pittsburgh snapped its four-game losing streak and stopped Houston’s four-game winning streak. I fell behind the next guy and he cranked a pitch out. Out since July 27, Valbuena finishes the season hitting.260 with 13 home runs in 90 games.
Astros: 3B Luis Valbuena will undergo surgery in the next few days to fix a torn tendon in his right hamstring. OF Preston Tucker (strained right shoulder) will begin a rehab assignment Wednesday at Double-A Corpus Christi.
Pirates: RHP Gerrit Cole (7-8, 3.30) is 0-2 with a 6.48 ERA in his last three starts.
Astros: INF/OF Yulieksi Gurriel grounded out as a pinch-hitter in the eighth a day after leaving his major league debut with right hamstring tightness.
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McHugh is 0-4 with a 9.00 ERA in his last five starts.
