Pittsburgh can’t solve Houston’s Rodriguez

Associated Press

pittsburgh

An eighth-inning rally earned Wandy Rodriguez a well-deserved victory.

Rodriguez allowed two runs over seven innings to win his fourth consecutive start against the Pirates and the Houston Astros scored twice in the eighth to snap a two-game skid, 3-2 over the Pittsburgh on Friday night.

Rodriguez (2-3) was coming off a no-decision in which he pitched eight shutout innings — the second time in six prior starts this season he’d gone at least seven innings and allowed less than two runs but still did not earn a win.

Rodriguez left Friday’s game trailing 2-1 but Carlos Lee and Hunter Pence delivered RBI hits in the eighth to turn a loss into a victory.

“He’s just in a rhythm, he’s got great command of three pitches and he works fast,” said Pence, who had two hits with two RBIs. “It’s a joy to play behind him and I’m glad we got him a win. It’s good to finally get him a win; we haven’t given him enough support, but he’s a great pitcher.”

Rodriguez (2-3) faced the minimum through 4 2/3 — allowing only a walk and a single, but both were erased by double plays. Pittsburgh hit back-to-back two-out doubles in the fifth to tie it at 1.

Lyle Overbay doubled off the right-field wall and Wood followed by lining one down the left-field line.

Rodriguez’s only other mistake was to Neil Walker, who led off the bottom of the seventh by hitting a full-count pitch into the seats just beyond the left-field wall to give Pittsburgh a short-lived lead.

“He was locating his fastball to both sides of the plate and had a good over-the-top curveball,” Walker said. “He did a good job.”

For his part, Rodriguez said he never truly felt comfortable on a day in which it rained steadily throughout much of the middle innings.

But when asked what was working in his pitch repertoire, Rodriguez said, “everything.”