The Houston Astros went on the road after a tough series against the Tampa Bay Rays to battle former LSU star Paul Skenes and the Pittsburgh Pirates. Lance McCullers shined on the mound for the Astros, picking up his first win since September 2022 in a 3-0 victory for Houston.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
Early on in this matchup, it was all about Paul Skenes and Lance McCullers Jr. Both pitchers were efficient and able to keep the opposing offenses off the board early on. The Astros had a great chance in the third inning with a pair of baserunners on, but Skenes was able to get out of trouble.
McCullers, who has missed the last two seasons with injury, had a great outing on Tuesday, pitching six scoreless innings while allowing just two hits and striking out seven and walking just one.
Things stayed quiet until the seventh inning, when Christian Walker took advantage of a rare Skenes mistake and hit a solo home run to left field to take the 1-0 lead.
A huge moment came in the bottom of the eighth inning as O’Neil Cruz singled to get on base. Then, with his dynamic speed, Cruz was able to attempt a steal of second. Cruz was originally safe, but his speed carried him through the bag on the slide, and Jose Altuve was able to get the critical second out of the inning and keep the Pirates off the board.
In the ninth, Skenes was replaced by Dennis Santana, who gave up an early single to Jeremy Pena before Isaac Paredes launched a two-run blast to left field for his 12th homer of the season and gave Houston the 3-0 lead in the ninth.
Josh Hader came in to seal the deal in the ninth inning as McCullers picked up his first win in nearly 1,000 days as the Houston Astros got the 3-0 win.
BIG NUMBER: 38
Christian Walker’s seventh-inning go-ahead solo home run was the first given up by Paul Skenes in his last 38 innings of work.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Lance McCullers Jr
McCullers was excellent as the starting pitcher for the Astros, just his fifth start since 2022. The right-hander went six complete of scoreless baseball while allowing just two hits and striking out seven in the win.
UP NEXT: Game 2 of the series will get underway Wednesday afternoon with a 5:40 p.m. first pitch on ESPN 103.7 Lafayette and 104.1 Lake Charles.