Pirates reach .500

Photo by: Gene J. Puskar

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Photo

Pittsburgh Pirates catcher Ryan Doumit, right, cannot get the tag on Houston Astros' Humberto Quintero, upper left, with umpire Lance Barrett (94) making the call during the seventh inning of a baseball game in Pittsburgh, Sunday, May 8, 2011. Quintero scored from second on a bunt by Astros' Angel Sanchez and an error. The Pirates won 5-4.

Associated Press

PITTSBURGH

The Pittsburgh Pirates have steadfastly insisted that merely reaching .500 wouldn’t be cause for celebration.

Ryan Doumit gave them a chance to find out what it feels like this late in the season for the first time in a while.

Doumit hit a three-run homer in the eighth inning and Pittsburgh evened its record later than at any point since 2005, beating the Houston Astros 5-4 Sunday.

Doumit’s drive to left off Fernando Abad (1-3) was his third homer of the season. The Pirates have won five of seven and are 17-17.

“We know that this is a great thing for the city and we know that we are moving in the right direction,” said Pirates third baseman Neil Walker, who grew up in suburban Pittsburgh. “I guess I understand it a little more than everybody else, because I was six years old in ’92.”

That was the last season in which the Pirates finished with a winning record. A North American major professional sports record 18 consecutive losing seasons have followed since.

The 2005 Pirates stood at 30-30 on June 11.

“We’re on the road to where we want to go, and that would be one of the mile markers that you need to get by,” first-year Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. “And now we need to work on the shelf life and on pushing forward from here.”

Pittsburgh built a 2-0 lead behind starter James McDonald’s six shutout innings Sunday, only to have Houston erase a deficit and take the lead against its bullpen for the second time in the series.

Chris Johnson homered on Chris Resop’s third pitch of the seventh, Bill Hall singled and Humberto Quintero followed with an RBI double. Quintero, a lumbering catcher, scored from second on a bunt single by pinch-hitter Angel Sanchez to put the Astros ahead. The Astros made it 4-2 on Brett Wallace’s sacrifice fly off Daniel McCutchen (1-0) in the eighth.