Game 143 Recap-
The red hot Houston Astros scored all 3 runs in the 5th, hi-lighted by a home run from a mid-day minor league call up, leading them to a 3-2 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates at Minute Maid Park in Texas. Rookie PH Mark Saccomanno homered in the 5th in his 1st major league at bat, becoming the 4th Astro to do so. Veterans Miguel Tejada and Lance Berkman followed with rbi singles in the frame, while rookie Alberto Arias won his 1st ML start after 18 relief appearances.
Saccomanno, called up to replace injured 3b Ty Wigginton, flew into Houston after taking a 4:30 pm flight from Austin. “I didn’t get a chance to get any swings before the game,” Saccomanno said. “So I went down to the batting cage in the second inning with [coach] Dave Clark. I was thinking about what to do and I said if I got in I might take a pitch. He said, ‘If you do, I’ll fine you,’ and I knew he would.” Pinch hitting for Arias, he put Ian Snell’s pitch into the right field stands. The rookie was hitting .297 with 27 homers and 84 rbi in Triple A.
Arias(1-0) gave up 2 hits in his 5 innings, striking out 5 of his first 6 batters. “He gave us a real solid start,” Cooper said. “He threw hard and he pounded the bottom of the zone. That’s what we wanted out of him.” He ended with 6 Ks and walked 3. Pirates RH Ian Snell(6-11, ) did not pitch poorly, in 6 innings, he gave up the 6 hits and 3 runs with 9 ks and 3 walks. “He threw the ball well,” Pirates manager John Russell said. “He had one bad stretch, but he gave us a chance. He was aggressive. Hopefully, he can build off of this.”
Pittsburgh plated 2 unearned runs in the 6th after a big throwing error by 2b David Newhan. 1b Adam Laroche and RF Brandon Moss followed with rbi singles to get them within 1 at 3-2. Houston then got 3 1/3 shutout innings from the rest of the pen and closer RH Jose Valverde earned his NL leading 41st save in 47 tries.
Star of the Game-
Saccomanno- Only in Baseball!!!
Pirates Notes-
SS Jack Wilson is out for the year after an exam showed a hairline fracture in his right index finger. The team plans to not DL him and possibly use him as a pinch runner, “We’ll just see what he’s able to do,” Pirates manager John Russell said. “The key to the situation is that he doesn’t want to re-injure it. So taking groundballs at short isn’t the right thing to do.” Look for Luis Cruz and Brian Bixler to take starts at SS… Laroche had 2 hits to pace the club…Relief corps used 3 pitchers to pitch 2 shutout innings
Next Game-
Tuesday, Game 2 of 4 game set at Houston vs the Astros
Pirates RH Ross Ohlendorf(1-1,6.26) vs Astros LH Randy Wolf(9-11,4.47)
