After a painful bullpen collapse Wednesday night, the Pittsburgh Pirates responded in a big way Thursday — shutting down the Houston Astros 5-1 to win the series and head to Atlanta with momentum.
The story of the night was the pitching plan — and manager Don Kelly’s blueprint worked to perfection.
Jared Jones started and was sharp — going five scoreless innings, striking out four, and holding Houston to just four hits. Jones needed only 74 pitches to navigate five clean frames before handing it off.
Carmen Mlodzinski then came on in relief and was equally outstanding — tossing four full innings, striking out three, and allowing just one run on four hits. Pittsburgh’s staff held Houston scoreless over the first five innings and limited the Astros to zero-for-eight with runners in scoring position.
Offensively, Ryan O’Hearn continued his hot stretch — going two-for-four with a homer and three R-B-I. Brandon Lowe went two-for-five with a pair of doubles and scored twice. Bryan Reynolds and Oneil Cruz each had multi-hit contributions as well.
Pittsburgh takes their winning ways to Atlanta this weekend for a three-game set against the Braves beginning Friday night.
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