Saturday, July 28, 2012
Associated Press
houston
Drew Sutton scored on a wild pitch in the ninth inning to propel the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 6-5 win over the hapless Houston Astros on Friday night.
The loss was Houston’s 11th straight, tying the franchise record for most consecutive losses in a season. The Astros, who have baseball’s worst record, (34-67) last lost 11 straight in 1995.
The Astros led 5-4 entering the ninth inning before rookie Starling Marte’s bases-loaded sacrifice fly tied it up. A pitch from Xavier Cedeno got away from catcher Chris Snyder and allowed Sutton to score and extend Houston’s misery.
It was the third time in the last four games that Houston has lost after entering the ninth inning with a lead.
Tony Watson (5-1) pitched a scoreless eighth for the win and Joel Hanrahan did the same in the ninth for his 31st save.
Alex Presley hit a solo home run for Pittsburgh in the fourth and Michael McKenry, who finished with three hits, connected on a two-run shot in the fifth.
Houston’s Chris Johnson came a single short of the cycle and Ben Francisco had a solo homer and drove in two runs for the Astros.
The game was tied at 4-all when Johnson tripled on a ball that rolled up the corner of Tal’s Hill in center field with no outs in the seventh. J.D. Martinez’s one-out grounder to left field sent Johnson home to put Houston on top.
Johnson doubled in the first inning and had a solo homer in the third before his seventh-inning triple. Johnson walked in the fifth inning, but struck out in his last at-bat in the eighth.
Rhiner Cruz (1-1) came in for Houston with one out in the ninth inning. McKenry singled before Cruz issued consecutive walks to load the bases before Marte’s sacrifice fly off Cedeno.
Houston starter Jordan Lyles allowed seven hits and four runs while tying a career-high with eight strikeouts in 6-plus innings.
McKenry doubled to start the seventh inning and chase Lyles.