The Stros are starting to scruff in Pittsburgh as Pirates rookie John Van Benschoten won his first major league game in allowing only five hits in eight innings as the Bucs beat the Stros 6-1 Friday night at PNC Park.
Stros starter Pete Munro (4-6), who beat Van Benschoten at the Juice Box last Sunday, allowed four runs and nine hits in five innings. The only positive out of this rather dreary Stros performance was Brandon Duckworth, who pitched two innings of scoreless relief while giving up only one hit and no walks. Given the way that Duckworth pitched earlier in the season, that is a major accomplishment.
It appears that the Stros’ bats are cooling off a bit. After averaging almost 10 runs a game during their recent winning streak, the Stros have now scored just 11 runs and had just 19 hits in their last three games. While not as bad as some earlier droughts during this season, the Stros’ hitters will probably have to get back to producing at a considerably above-average level for the remainder of the season for the Stros to have a reasonable shot at the Wild Card playoff spot. The backend of the Stros’ pitching rotation requires a rather large run buffer to have a reasonable chance of winning games in which any member of that group is pitching.
Surprising Brandon Backe pitches the fourth game of the Pirates series on Saturday and Roy O goes for his 18th win during the Sunday matinee. Sure would be nice to lock those two games up with wins.