Pirates sink facing former ace

Associated Press

HOUSTON

Yuli Gurriel and Alex Bregman homered to back up a solid start by Gerrit Cole in his first meeting against his former team, and the Houston Astros got a 5-1 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday night.

The Astros opened a six-game homestand with the victory over the Pirates, who came into town on a four-game winning streak.

Cole (7-5) yielded seven hits and one run in six innings against the team which drafted him first overall in 2011 and where he spent five seasons before a trade to Houston before last season. Cole struck out three and walked two as he won his third straight decision.

Bregman got things going in the fourth with a double off Trevor Williams before Gurriel launched a fastball into the seats in left field with two outs in the inning to make it 2-0.

An RBI single by Melky Cabrera got the Pirates within 1 in the sixth before Bregman opened the bottom of the inning with his 22nd home run to make it 3-1.

Williams (2-2) allowed eight hits and four runs in 6 2/3 innings. Houston added a run on a sacrifice fly by Robinson Chirinos for the second out of the seventh inning and Williams was lifted when George Springer singled after that.

Cole got a big assist from his defense in the fourth inning when Josh Reddick reached over the short wall in right field to rob Starling Marte of a home run for the first out of the inning.

Corey Dickerson doubled to start the sixth and advanced to third on a groundout by Marte. The Pirates cut the lead to 1 when Dickerson scored on the ground ball single by Cabrera with two outs in the inning. Colin Moran singled after that before Cole walked Osuna to load the bases. But he was able to limit the damage when Diaz grounded out.

UP NEXT

Pirates: RHP Dario Agrazal (0-0, 4.50) will be recalled from Triple-A Indianapolis to start for Pittsburgh tonight.

Astros: LHP Framber Valdez (3-3, 3.61) is scheduled to start for Houston tonight.