ASTROS HIT ROCK BOTTOM IN BLOWOUT LOSS TO PIRATES

On paper, Sunday’s matchup between the Houston Astros and Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Stadium looked like an insignificant battle between two National League also-rans.  As it turned it, the result suggested that there may be some hope for the long struggling Pittsburgh fans while the Astros could be more of a mess than their record suggests.  The Pirates continued their recent offensive productivity, clubbing 19 hits, and Paul Maholm threw a 3 hit, complete game shutout as Pittsburgh routed Houston 9-0.

Pittsburgh is in last place in the National League Central, 4.5 games back of 5th place Houston.  In this game, however, the Pirates looked nothing like a last place team dominating every phase of the game and evening their home record at 21-21 good for +5.4 units of profit.  With their ace Roy Oswalt on the mound, the Astros were priced as a -140 baseball betting favorite in the contest but saw their road record drop to 17-29.  The nine runs scored went OVER the posted total of 7, representing only the 5th time in the last 17 meetings between the two teams in Pittsburgh that the final score exceeded the total.  

Maholm threw only the second shutout of his career and his first complete game since April 2007, when he also blanked the Astros.  He was clearly pleased with both his performance as well as that of the entire team:

"Everything was good. I mixed speeds with my curveballs, mixed speeds with my sinker... They were aggressive, so you keep the ball down and let them beat it into the ground and hit easy pop-ups. The defense picked me up a few times, and the offense, when you put up runs like that, it makes it a lot easier and a lot more relaxing on the mound."

The Pirates’ offense has been one of the worst in baseball this year, but they’ve shown signs of life over the past two games.  Pittsburgh scored 12 runs on 17 hits in their Saturday win over Houston, marking the first time they’ve had 17 or more hits in consecutive games since the 2006 season.  Manager John Russell said it was a good sign for his young team:

"Two days in a row lets the guys know what they're capable of doing. It's a good building block for these young guys. They're starting to get the feeling they can score runs."

As if the day needed to be any worse for Houston, starting pitcher Roy Oswalt was forced to leave the game in the fourth inning after being hit in the ankle with a ground ball.  Houston manager Brad Mills said that Oswalt should make his next start but saw no reason to take chances in this contest:

"He was really having some uncomfort in landing, and any time you have a situation like that with your pitcher the main concern is you don't want him to change something and put a stress on something else and start hurting something else.”

Pittsburgh will be at home for the next week, hosting Milwaukee starting on Monday and welcoming NL West leading San Diego to town later this week.  Houston will head to Chicago for a three game set against the Cubs before returning home for a series against the Cincinnati Reds at Minute Maid Park.